New day, new hiring changes over at Gawker Media. Deadspin, Gawker’s sports blog, is trading managing editor Tom Scocca to Gawker. Gawker’s current managing editor Emma Carmichael will move back to Deadspin. Mr. Scocca will become Gawker’s deputy editor, where he will be on the command chain below newly installed EIC John Cook. Deadspin announced the deal in a post on their site.
“Scocca wanted to write about politics and media. He and Cook are pretty much the dream team at Gawker,” Gawker head honcho Nick Denton told us in an email. “And Emma’s on a site lead track for us. This was on the cards last week, but Slate was also making a run at Scocca. That had to play out.”
Well played.
“We saw a chance to get younger,” Deadspin editor Tommy Craggs said in the post. “We appreciate all the veteran leadership Tom has given us, but this is a young person’s game. Emma gives us a much-needed shot in the arm.”
Mr. Scocca went over to Deadspin from Slate back in June 2011.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for me, but it’s been a great ride here,” Mr. Scocca said in the announcement. “You’ll go a long time before you’ll see the kind of back-to-back imperiousness Craggs and I had going. And it’ll sure be different without these Deadspin fans.”
The trade marks a return for Ms. Carmichael. The Vassar grad started working at Deadspin immediately after graduating in 2010. She became Gawker’s first managing editor when she moved over last year.
“There’s no question about it, it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Ms. Carmichael in the Deadspin post. “I’d like to thank my Lord and savior and also Nick Denton for this opportunity. I’ll miss Gawker, but it is what it is.”
(Updated: 3:44)
