The Wire, formerly known as The Atlantic Wire, will shut down, with its content folded into the main site on The Atlantic, according to an internal memo.
“Important news on the digital front: In a couple of weeks, we will bring the staff of The Wire back into The Atlantic’s fold,” The Atlantic co-presidents James Bennet and Bob Cohn told staff in an internal memo, obtained by TheWrap. “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.
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Bennet and Cohn also acknowledged the decision was partly based on The Wire not working as a business model. “This decision is also driven by a recognition that the business strategy behind separating The Wire from The Atlantic simply hasn’t proven out,” the memo continued. “Experimenting with new revenue streams to support our journalism–like experimenting with new forms of reporting, storytelling, and distribution–has been essential to our progress across the ever-shifting media landscape; so too has moving quickly to face the facts, and to adjust, when an experiment isn’t working as we’d hoped.”
The Wire’s homepage will be retained to curate news coverage from The Atlantic and other sources, and its associated social feeds will continue to function.
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The current Wire team will remain in New York as part of The Atlantic staff. Dashiell Bennett, The Wire editor, will work with Emily Epstein to oversee The Atlantic’s news team, which will include Russell Berman, Arit John, Adam Chandler, Polly Mosendz and others. Joe Reid and David Sims, who make up The Wire’s entertainment team, will report to Spencer Kornhaber. The Wire’s social media editor, Jake Swearingen, will report to Alexis Madrigal.
Representatives from The Atlantic did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.