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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Israel Daramola

Journalismism

Beyoncé Comes Off As Very Real And Human In Email Interview With GQ

David Roth

Closeup view of butter roll. It's a stock photo.

Podcasts

The State Of The Website And The Two Types Of Butter

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<div>Casey Taylor is a writer living and working in Pittsburgh. He is currently writing a book for St. Martin&#8217;s Press about cannabis religions, Haile Selassie I, and the Cold War in the Caribbean. He also writes a free newsletter called <a href="https://weedchurch.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://weedchurch.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1709306863919000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1mVH2xiID6S0zvlyj6yHco">Weed Church</a> covering foolish spiritual things that occur to him. His work has appeared in The New Republic, WIRED, New York Magazine, and a sports blog he can’t currently recall the name of. You can <a href="mailto:caseyt7@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a> him if you’d like.</div>
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Casey Taylor

Having escaped a raging war at home, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia face more conflict and insecurity as the border region of Amhara is plagued by unrest and clashes that sees the Ethiopian National Defense Force battling an ethnic Amhara militia known as 'Fano'. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) over 100,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia from Sudan since April 2023. Sudanese and other refugees in the border camps in Amhara lament a lack of security, difficult communication with the outside world - the Ethiopian government has disrupted access to mobile internet in the region since August 2023 - and a general sense of abandonment, raising the question if they fled a dire situation to end up in similar one. (Photo by )

How Do You Get Americans To Care About A War?

Barry Petchesky

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 06: New York Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay (L) and John Sterling speak during the New York Yankees World Series Victory Celebration at City Hall on November 6, 2009 in New York, New York. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

John Sterling Was The Soundtrack To My Life


<p>Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99</p>


Diana Moskovitz

A VICE Media Group location is seen on February 23, 2024 in the Venice section of Los Angeles, California.

Capital

“The Locusts Of The Newspaper World”: How Fortress Investment Group Decimated Newspapers Before Gutting Vice


<p>Jay Willis is a writer who covers law and democracy. His work has appeared in GQ, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, and more. He is the editor-in-chief at Balls &amp; Strikes, an outlet for progressive commentary on the legal system.</p>


Jay Willis

Giant portraits of the news anchors at Fox News headquarters building in New York City. Very cursed image.

Tim Burke’s Indictment Is A Political Choice Disguised As A Legal Act

Samer Kalaf

The New York Times Ignores Intense Scrutiny Of Its Oct. 7 Report

<p>Staff Writer</p>
<p>Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19</p>


Chris Thompson

Vice’s Avaricious Stewards Finally Succeeded At Bleeding It Dry

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<p>Mike Tanier has covered the NFL for 20 years for Football Outsiders, the New York Times, The Messenger, Bleacher Report, Sports on Earth, and other ancient empires. He&#8217;s a co-author of Aaron Schatz&#8217;s FTN Football Almanac and the author of the Y/A novel for grownups <i>Long Snapper&#8217;s Blues. </i>He lives off Exit 3 of the New Jersey Turnpike with his long-suffering wife, two sons and a 70-pound American Bully named Frank the Tank. <span style="font-weight: 400">His new Substack, <a href="https://miketanier.substack.com/">Too Deep Zone</a>, has officially launched.</span></p>
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Mike Tanier

STILL LIFE OF SKELETON WRITING IN LARGE BOOK WITH QUILL PEN (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

Three Newsrooms Imploded Around Me In Under A Year

Patrick Redford

Logo for The Messenger, with letters flickering out and then going blank. First the 'h', then the 'nge', then the 'T e e r.' Blue background, white text.

The Messenger Is Circling The Drain


<p>charismatic megafauna (they/them)</p>


Sabrina Imbler

The Popular Science Logo on a black background

Popular Science Ends And Science Journalism Keeps Shrinking

Premature babies are moved from their incubators to another location at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

Politics

Hamas Will Be Anywhere That Israel Wants It To Be

G/O Media Shutters Jezebel After Abandoning Sale Efforts

Lauren Theisen

The Messenger Is Speedrunning The Media Startup Life Cycle

<p>Katharine Trendacosta writes about tech policy, the entertainment industry, pop culture, and where those things intersect. In her day job, she&#8217;s the Associate Director of Policy and Activism for the digital civil liberties nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (Her writing here reflects her views alone and not those of EFF.) In her spare time, she writes things like this.</p>


A photo of the author, Katharine Trendacosta

Katharine Trendacosta

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JULY 19: Striking SAG-AFTRA members picket with striking WGA (Writers Guild of America) workers outside Netflix offices on July 19, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Members of SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood's largest union which represents actors and other media professionals, have joined striking WGA (Writers Guild of America) workers in the first joint walkout against the studios since 1960. The strike could shut down Hollywood productions completely with writers in the third month of their strike against the Hollywood studios. Netflix reported second quarter earnings after the closing bell today.

Arts And Culture

The Hollywood Strike Forces A Reckoning For The Trades

A screenshot of Gizmodo Bot's author page, with one bad Star Wars blog

G/O Media’s Bot-Written Blogs May Be Unreadable, But At Least They’re Incorrect

Alex Pareene

Reddit logo is seen on an android mobile device with an ascent growth chart in the background.

The Last Page Of The Internet

The Messenger's white-text on blue-field logo.

The Messenger Hasn’t Yet Disrupted Anything But Its Own Newsroom

Laura Wagner

Protesters face off with a line of police officers during a rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols outside the LAPD headquarters, in Los Angeles, California, on January 27, 2023. - The US city of Memphis released January 27, 2023 graphic video footage depicting the fatal police assault of a 29-year-old Black man, as cities nationwide braced for a night of protests against police brutality. Five Memphis officers, also all Black, were charged with second-degree murder in the beating of Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital on January 10 three days after being stopped on suspicion of reckless driving. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP)

Policing

Journalist Ben Camacho On Facing Petty LAPD-Driven Lawsuit: “It’s The Biggest Gaslight Of My Life”

Former President Donald Trump arrives for his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023.

It Only Seems Unprecedented

A Roundtable On The Free Speech Implications Of The New York Times Trans Letter Debate

Stuffed rabbits copulating are on display at the Palais de la Decouverte (scientific museum) in Paris on October 23, 2012 as part of an exhibition.