ESPN this morning named Washington Post Managing Editor Kevin Merida the Editor-in-Chief of The Undefeated. Merida will have the title of Senior VP and will be responsible for the editorial direction, tone and policies of the site. He will report directly to Exec VP/Global Strategy & Original Content Marie Donoghue and be based in DC. ESPN VP & Editorial Dir Leon Carter, who has been interim Editor-in-Chief of The Undefeated since June, will work closely with Merida on the transition and have additional management responsibilities within ESPN (ESPN). In DC, Steve Cavendish noted Washington Post Exec Editor Marty Baron this morning "announced the news in a memo to the staff." The memo: "I expect there is not a person in our newsroom, or in our entire organization, who is not heartbroken over this decision, even as we wish Kevin the very best in his new position and know that he will perform brilliantly." Merida's final day is Oct. 30 (WASHINGTONCITYPAPER.com, 10/19). Merida's departure drew responses from several Washington Post writers and employees. Political reporter Philip Rucker wrote, "Tough news: the brilliant @meridak is leaving WaPo. A punch in the gut...but ESPN is one lucky place." Fellow political reporter Dan Balz tweeted, "Kevin has been a treasured colleague, a wise and caring boss. Deeply saddened to see him go; wish him all success." Sportswriter Liz Clarke: "@washingtonpost loses a rare gem." Meanwhile, sports columnist Sally Jenkins wrote, "Wow. Nice to learn about losing my boss from Twitter."
AT HIS WHITS' END: SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted Fox Sports' Jason Whitlock, who founded The Undefeated while he was at ESPN, recently made clear "in no uncertain terms his opinion of Deadspin," which has "chronicled in a series through audio recordings and documents Whitlock’s management tenure as the ousted head" of The Undefeated. Whitlock last week "released on his Fox-sponsored Tumblr account a series of posts countering what Deadspin had written on him, as well as criticizing that site’s ethos, calling the site a font of 'angry white hipsters.'" He "charged Deadspin writer Greg Howard with making up a lead anecdote about him and tagged Howard a 'token black mascot' at the site." Howard "responded to Whitlock with a strongly-worded evaluation of Whitlock on his own blog" (SI.com, 10/18).
