“They have been careless individuals, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up issues and creatures after which retreated again into their cash or their huge carelessness or no matter it was that stored them collectively, and let different individuals clear up the mess that they had made.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
By now there have been 1,000,000 takes on what went unsuitable at The Messenger. The information web site abruptly went darkish earlier this week, leaving tons of of fantastic reporters stranded with out severance or medical insurance and even time to save lots of their clips. It was an act of abject cruelty and incompetence, assured to be pointed to by the very people who find themselves breaking journalism as proof that journalism is damaged.
There’s been loads of snark about clickbait heds and upcycled native information, however the work accomplished by The Messenger’s authorized group was second to none. Everybody on this enterprise relied on articles from wonderful journalists like Adam Klasfeld, Steve Reilly, and Maggie Severns. And if it occurred on the bottom in Fulton County, Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon tell us about it.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our journalism, and specifically the authorized protection we produced over these final many months,” senior editor Darren Samuelsohn informed ATL.
Samuelsohn praised Reilly for his “distinctive model of investigative deep-dive reporting” and his means to “churn out a narrative in seconds on any authorized temporary or submitting, irrespective of its complexity.” And he known as Klasfeld, a “rock star,” including, “I’m unhappy that we solely acquired the brief time interval we did to work collectively.”
He recorded a podcast with a number of of his former colleagues final evening. Given the timing, the panel was understandably uncooked and trustworthy in regards to the week’s occasions.
However no less than one Messenger alum has moved on from the shellshocked part to litigation, submitting a putative class motion lawsuit flagged this morning by Politico.
Pilar Belendez-Desha, a former senior producer figuring out of the Messenger’s workplace in New York, filed the swimsuit within the Southern District of New York alleging violations of the Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN Act”), 29 U.S.C. § 2101, and its state correlate, in addition to numerous state labor legal guidelines. The WARN Act requires 60 days discover earlier than mass layoffs, one thing which clearly didn’t happen right here. Belendez-Desha is represented by Raisner Roupinian LLP, a boutique agency which focuses on WARN Act claims.
The named defendant is JAF Communications LLC, so named for Jimmy Finkelstein, the media magnate who launched The Messenger a yr in the past with guarantees that it could be instantly worthwhile and would quickly rival outfits just like the LA Instances. Presumably, having smashed all of it up, he’d now retreat into his cash and go away everybody else to wash up the mess.
Belendez-Desha v. JAF Communications, Inc. [Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore the place she produces the Legislation and Chaos substack and podcast.
