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On Wednesday, they had meetings.
12 hours in New York Media. 14h at Vox Media. 5:30 pm at New York Media. A call to some Vox staff members who had to miss the 14 hours because of the news.
Meetings were necessary not only because that's what companies do when they meet. They were also necessary because of the confusion caused by the manner in which the announcement had been made and the questions that staff members now had about the acquisition of New York Media, owner of the eponymous magazine and The Cut, Grub Street, Intelligencer and Vulture websites, by Vox Media, owner of a family of websites including Vox, The Verge and Recode.
The announcement of the merger touched the staff of both companies, who took advantage of these meetings to express their concern about the impact of the merger on their work.
From a business perspective, combining Vox Media and New York Media makes sense. Media mergers are increasingly being discussed as companies compete with tech giants such as Facebook and Google for digital advertising money. Media companies have the opportunity to gain advertising budgets because of their size.
But in both newsrooms, staff members were worried.
"The mood is somewhere between bored and confused," a New York Media reporter told CNN Business. "The management is very cautious about the wording, as it did with discussions about everything else, union negotiations, the next move from the mag office and many others."
Shortly after, some Vox Media staff members in the union representing them met in their internal Slack group. They wondered when the direction was going to alert them; what it meant for the current New York Media negotiating group, where staff members organized a union through NewsGuild; and how it made sense for the merged company to have Eater from Vox Media and GrubStreet from New York Media, who each write about food and meals.
During the ensuing hour, New York Media employees received an email from Wasserstein and another from Haskell. Bankoff sent one to Vox Media employees and some members of the management team received another from Bell. These e-mails recalled what was in the Times' story: there would be no editorial dismissal.
But media leaders made the same promises after the merger of other companies, but then they decided to pull out and downsize.
Lowell Peterson, executive director of Writers Guild East, who represents Vox Media, told CNN Business that his staff was communicating with Vox executives about such concerns.
"We were assured that there would be no negative impact on the employees we represent – no layoff, no change in editorial structure, policy or control. It's all good, we have a strong collective agreement at Vox Media and we're very proud of that, "Peterson said.
At a four-handed meeting with Bankoff at Vox headquarters, staff members asked him to defend the existence of brands likely to overlap under one roof. Bankoff described the differences between sites such as Vox's Polygon and New York's Vulture, the first one focused on entertainment and the second on culture, and the two distinct voices.
But this editorial distinction does not protect employees on the corporate side, such as those in engineering, sales and administration.
The merger reinforces the company's new viewpoint on advertisers, said Noah Mallin, head of experience, content and sponsorships at Wavemaker North America, an advertising agency that has collaborated with advertisers. two companies.
"It's hard to be a minnow when there are so many big fish, it does not matter how great the brand is for the publisher, it's about how you can grow for you get noticed these days, "Mallin said.
Mallin stated that he was not concerned, as an advertiser, by any overlap of brands.
"They have complementary audiences, there really is an overlap and it's not a bad thing," Mallin said. "[Sales] can speak of depth to reach a richer urban audience. "
After inviting Bankoff to the plenary meeting at New York Media, Wasserstein said she felt the company understood their position of strength.
"People have a lot of news to hear, but I think they were encouraged by the comments made by Jim Bankoff at our plenary meeting," Wasserstein told CNN Business. "He and I share a vision of what a modern media company can be, based on editorial excellence, the merger about growth, and I believe this has been realized."
An author of Vox Media has expressed optimism about the merger.
"Although Vox can be boring and easily mocking (tellers!), He's really serious and open-minded, and I think that's a very useful way to address the news," he said. the writer at CNN Business. "They have like no pretense, which is refreshing and maybe others could learn."
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