The Atlantic To Shut Down ‘The Wire’

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Wire, the Atlantic’s breaking news and aggregation site, is going dark, according to a memo sent to staff on Monday.

James Bennett and Bob Cohn, co-presidents of the Atlantic, announced in the memo that they “will bring the staff of The Wire back into The Atlantic’s fold.”

“We are very proud of what The Wire has accomplished editorially, and we think that joining its aggressive, deft news coverage with The Atlantic’s ideas-driven journalism will provide a richer experience for The Atlantic’s readers, a firmer foundation for our ambitions to cover the news, and greater opportunities for growth for The Wire’s team,” the two wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Gawker.

The memo did not mention any layoffs, with Bennett and Cohn telling staff that the “current Wire team will remain in New York while acquiring some new titles and reporting relationships as staff of TheAtlantic.com.”

The news marks the culmination of the site’s steady demise after it entered the year with lofty goals. Formerly known as the Atlantic Wire, the site underwent an ambitious rebranding at the end of 2013, dropping the parent company’s name from its title.

In January, the Wire’s general manager Andrew Golis, who formerly worked for TPM, said the site was in “investment mode,” forecasting as many as a dozen new hires.

But it turned out to be a turbulent year for the Wire, as it endured a massive exodus. The site went several months before it finally hired an editor-in-chief in June, when news editor Dashiell Bennett was elevated to the role.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: