Pitchfork’s Former Editor-in-Chief Looks Back on Leaving a Job She Loved
On the second episode of the latest run of the In Her Shoes podcast (first episode here!), host Samhita Mukhopadhyay (former Teen Vogue executive editor, current Cut contributor, and author of The Myth of Making It) talks with longtime friend and former editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, Puja Patel. She first joined the publication in 2018 after a turn as editor-in-chief of Spin. In January of this year, Condé Nast announced it would be merging the title with GQ. Patel decided to leave at that time, along with several staffers who were laid off. “It was a real emotional blow,” Patel recalls. “It did feel like a misunderstanding and a misstep given how strong the work of the publication is and how it had been regarded by both the industry readers and institutions like the National Magazine Awards.” To hear her discusses that experience and more, listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can also read highlights from the interview below.
On the role of an editor-in-chief:
If you have come up through traditional media, you see the role of editor-in-chief as being editorial-focused. We’ve seen in the last five-to-eight years that the role of the editor-in-chief is so much more expansive. You’re taking on part of the role of the publisher, in some elements. You’re becoming the face of a brand, being a public figure in a way that wasn’t necessarily a part of the traditional media. It’s not so much the written word and editing as much as it is building a kind of holistic brand point of view. And I love that part of being in senior leadership. That is such a fun part of what we get to do now, but it is very different from when you’re reading about what an editor is when you’re young.
On her decision to leave Pitchfork:
When it happened, it became so clear to me that it just wasn’t going to be the type of publication that I could work at anymore, either. Every place I’ve gone, and every job that I have taken, has leaned into the idea of building a better system and having a high regard for journalism, integrity, and taste. I have this very strong urgency to ask, “What will the future of journalism look like? What will culture building look like?” It was after the shock of it all wore off, but it became so clear to me that it was time to move on to the next thing. It became so acutely aware to me that this would never be the thing that I and my team made and it couldn’t be anymore.
On cultural criticism:
This is one of the saddest things, but criticism is kind of a dying art because so much entertainment writing is access based and very specifically curated through the story that the artist or the label or the brand wants to tell. It’s so rare that you get voicey, critical — and critical doesn’t mean negative, right? Critical just means analytical — discourse around art anymore.