Sportswriter Bob Kravitz blasts The Athletic in new newsletter
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A renowned Indianapolis sportswriter is starting a new project — and burning bridges behind him.
Driving the news: Bob Kravitz, a longtime IndyStar sports columnist, launched a newsletter called Musings of an Old Sportswriter.
- A subscription costs $7 a month or $70 a year.
The big picture: Kravitz is following a trend of well-known writers moving to Substack, a digital newsletter platform that offers simple publishing tools in exchange for taking a 10% share of subscription money.
- Other local Substack newsletters include Adam Wren's "Importantville" and Dave Bangert's "Based in Lafayette."
The intrigue: Kravitz's first edition blasts his most recent employer, The Athletic, claiming the New York Times-owned sports website overworked him after he underwent open-heart surgery and held him to ever-changing metrics goals before laying him off as part of a reorganization last month.
- Kravitz also says he had "lousy editors," adding the Athletic has "totally forgotten" about Indianapolis while cutting sports coverage and that the company "had a deleterious impact on our collective mental health as a staff."
What he's saying: "They don't give a f--- about me as a human being," Kravitz wrote of The Athletic.
The other side: "We respect Bob and his tenure with The Athletic. The company made the difficult decision to eliminate his role in alignment with our editorial strategy," a New York Times Co. spokesperson tells Axios.
- "That said, we strongly disagree with the unfortunate characterization of events. We do not intend to comment further for confidentiality reasons."
Meanwhile, Kravitz also says it was a mistake to join WTHR, the Indianapolis TV station where he worked from 2014 to 2018 before being let go.
- "Never should have left the Indianapolis Star. Never ever ever ever. Ever," he writes.