On Jan. 17, media company Condé Nast made the controversial decision to fold music journalism company Pitchfork into men’s fashion magazine GQ. Condé Nast’s chief content officer Anna Wintour sent a statement to Pitchfork employees informing them of the merger and announcing that Pitchfork’s Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel would be stepping down. Reportedly around half of Pitchfork’s employees were laid off following the release of the statement. Neither Condé Nast nor Wintour have commented to confirm or deny this.
One former Pitchfork employee, Matthew Ruiz, said on X, “It’s official: I was laid off from Pitchfork today, along with what appears to be half the staff. While on parental leave.”
Pitchfork has served as a popular source of unflinching music journalism since its founding by Ryan Schreiber in 1996. Pitchfork’s recognition has stemmed from the staff’s willingness and rigor to tear into their music reporting. They rate their albums on a scale of one to 10, and receiving a 10 is no small feat; only 12 albums in the company’s 28 year run have received this score, with their average score being 6.7. Pitchfork was an independent company until 2015, when it was purchased by Condé Nast.
In a statement to Pitchfork’s staff, Wintour wrote, “Today, we are evolving our Pitchfork team structure by bringing the team into the GQ organization. This decision was made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork’s performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company.”
Former Pitchfork staff writer, Allison Hussey, wrote on X, “One absolutely bizarro detail from this week is that Anna Wintour — seated indoors at a conference table — did not remove her sunglasses while she was telling us that we were about to get canned. The indecency we’ve seen from upper management this week is appalling.”
Arts Editor Josh Ilano said, “I think the current dissent from organized and even unionized writing into an emphasis on freelance work is deteriorating journalism as an artform, but more importantly as an occupation.” He adds, “The writers at pitchfork that have been laid off were invaluable ideologues for the imminent and prescient music community, and to discard them for what seems to be convenience, the bottom line and necessity is to gut the beating heart of what was the voice for so many music enthusiasts.”
Pitchfork’s fate is currently uncertain. Wintour’s statement reads, “Both Pitchfork and GQ have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism,” although there is seemingly very little reader crossover between the two publications. Pitchfork’s audience was 56% male and 43% female, and the articles were never targeted to one specific gender. The aim of the company was to present honest music reviews and inform a diverse audience of men and women alike of current events in the music world. While women can certainly read GQ if they please, it’s clear that women are not the target audience for a men’s lifestyle magazine. The decision to fold a music journalism company into a magazine targeted to men questions the perspective that Conde Nast perceives their own brands and the structures that they choose to build around them.
