I don’t know how many of you know this, but people in the workplace sometimes disagree politically. It’s true! Even people on similar sides of the political spectrum sometimes disagree! And occasionally, it can even feel awkward, especially if there are political disagreements among people whose job it is to talk about politics!
Bloomberg is attempting to turn that awkwardness into a hit piece about Pod Save America, where sometimes the younger, more idealistic staffers have political disagreements with the older more moderate founders, who may not enjoy picking at scabs when trying to keep everyone united during politically fractious times. Those disagreements were largely about Gaza and whether to keep Biden on the ticket, and many of the younger staffers didn’t feel that their opinions were well reflected in the work of the podcast company.
This has been an issue in workplaces, in homes, among friend groups, and in social media at least since October 7th, and honestly, long before it. It sucks, and I hate it, and all I can say is that the only way I know how to handle it is to respect everyone’s opinion as long as it comes from a place of good faith. (Full Disclosure: There are a lot of political differences within the Pajiba Slack. Everyone here comes at it in good faith). The young, idealistic staffers at Pod Save America probably also come from a place of good faith. Still, some didn’t think that the founders gave their opinions as much airtime, even though Pod Save America regularly has had on pro-Palestinian activists to discuss the war in Gaza and the Pod Save the World podcast is hosted by Ben Rhodes, who is highly critical of Israel. Moreover, even the founders quickly united on the issue of replacing Biden on the ticket after the debate (in fact, they were at the forefront in that movement in the weeks after).
Bloomberg also tries to frame Pod Save America’s decision to cancel more progressive, less popular podcasts as villainous. After the podcast world’s advertising revenue ran dry, the founders themselves still made a lot of money, which created tension between them and the younger, lesser-paid staffers. I get it. I’d be pissed if my boss were making $10 million a year and he canceled my podcast because no one was listening to it, too. But also, being millionaires doesn’t obligate them to spend money on podcasts that do not turn a profit. If anyone should understand that, it’s Bloomberg!
The article also tries to make hay out of the fact that one-third of the staff has left since January 2023 and that there are few opportunities for advancement. It’s a young staff. There was a lot of contraction (again, podcasts that underperformed were canceled), and some people probably left for other jobs where there were more advancement opportunities. One-third sounds about right.
There is definitely one section in the piece, however, that raised some eyebrows:
One staffer rose swiftly through the ranks, getting three promotions over two years, reaching a position that reports directly to the CEO. The person spoke openly to colleagues about having a close friendship with co-founder Lovett and talked about staying at his home to dog-sit. Earlier this year, the two informed the human resources department that they were dating.
The relationship began about a year after the employee’s last promotion, according to the spokesperson, who noted that Lovett is not a manager and is not involved in discussions about promotions. The employee declined to comment.
Lovett, dude. Don’t sleep with employees! That’s HR101.
On the other hand, I don’t know why younger staffers are upset they had to put in a lot of work while Jon Lovett took a month off to appear on Survivor. Appearing on Survivor is guaranteed to make Pod Saves America much more visible. I have no interest in appearing on Survivor, but if someone asked, I’d do it to give a higher profile to the site. The people here deserve to have their work read by as many people as possible and to be compensated according to the revenue a larger audience might bring.
As for the founders? Successful people deserve to be well compensated, but it’s also important to spread that wealth around, especially to those who make their successes more possible.
Source: Bloomberg