TechCrunch UK, just a few months old, has been tremendously successful in creating a community for local UK & Ireland Entrepreneurs. However, today I put the blog on hold and terminated our relationship with editor Sam Sethi.
This all stems from Sam’s commentary on the recent Le Web conference in Paris. This has nothing to do with censorship. TechCrunch is listed as a sponsor/partner to the conference, but we have no financial arrangement with them. Loic even cancelled my own trip to Paris to keynote the conference at the last minute (largely because I waited until the last minute to book a flight and the cost to get me there became ridiculous). This was a Six Apart event, not a TechCrunch event.
Sam wrote his initial views of the conference in this post. It’s not what I would have written, but I have no editorial problem with that initial post. It was entirely Sam’s call as the editor of the blog.
Conference organizer Loic Le Meur, however, took offense at the post and left a regrettable comment, calling Sam an “asshole”. I haven’t spoken to Loic directly about why he left the comment, but it is likely he felt betrayed by a partner, and lashed out after being hit all day yesterday with criticism about the conference.
I emailed Loic and told him that while I have no issue with the original post that Sam wrote, I’d understand if he wanted us to delete his comment. He said he would like it removed, and he also apologized publicly on the blog post. I asked (didn’t order) Sam to remove the comment.
If Sam had decided in his editorial discretion not to remove Loic’s comment, that would have been fine. But he didn’t do that. He left the comment in, and then wrote a new post (which I have removed) highlighting the “asshole” comment to embarrass Loic, unneccesarily in my opinion. The fact that Sam did this, ignoring my request not to, and ignoring Loic’s apology, was unacceptable. He saw an opportunity for attention and took it, even at the cost of hurting someone else. I see this all the time – get a well known blogger to lose their cool and then leverage that event for further attention. Sure, Loic lost his cool. But he promptly apologized. He did not deserve to be trashed in a new post.
Even though I think at that point Sam had reached the limits of acceptable editorial discretion, it still would not have necessarily resulted in him having to leave TechCrunch. The actions that finally resulted in his dismissal were additional comments he wrote on that second post, announcing “that TechCrunch UK will be doing a series of seminars and a conference next year as well as a series of smaller meetings in conjunction with friends & partners which have been in the planning for sometime now.”
These events were not discussed with me, and certainly were not specifically approved. The fact that he promoted them while trashing a competing event was a clear conflict of interest and was not appropriate. I do not consider this to be ethical behavior.
None of this had to be aired publicly, but Sam chose to write a final post on the blog after he was terminated stating incorrectly that he was being terminated because of the original post. He has also written elsewhere publicly that he was terminated because he would not comply with my demand to delete a post. That is not accurate either. This is driven entirely from Sam’s ethical lapse in trashing a competitor while simultaneously promoting his own events. That’s not acceptable – readers will not be able to determine if he actually believed what he wrote about the conference, or rather exaggerated his opinions to futher his own business interests.
Basic ethical behavior is not subjective. We will not associate with individuals who choose to cross the line.
The blog is on hold until we determine if/when we will hire another editor and continue writing.
Update: I’ll also say this. Sam and I exchanged words this morning and I said he basically fired himself with that second to last post promoting his events. But nothing had been publicized and we certainly could have discussed a work around, public apology, retraction, etc. But the next thing I knew he’d posted on the blog about his dismissal. Until that happened, everything was reversible. After he took that step, the situation was no longer able to be resolved.
great way to explain it.. thanks
Michael
I am a huge fan but this stinks to high heaven. “The cost of a flight to Paris”
Cmon
so why did the whole post disappear instead of just those comments?
Pat – It was a decision made by the conference, not me. I was disappointed but it was their call.
jonas – because there was a clear conflict of interest and it was not acceptable content for techcrunch.
Agreed with Pat … that doesn’t seem like ethical behavior neither.
Robin – I’m sorry you feel that way.
Mike,
I’ll be surprised if my comment makes it as my last 2 didn’t on TechCrunch UK & Ireland – even though others managed to post after me.
I was informed during my taxi ride to the airport by someone known to you, that you in fact decided not to attend the event (last Friday) on account of not being able to agree a revenue share deal with the organisers. I don’t think it would be right to disclose the name of that person, but I can confirm that there was one other person from a respectable organisation that witnessed the conversation. None of us met before the taxi ride so it’s all subjective – although my source did appear to know you well and spoke with a great deal of authority.
Further, I’m familiar with the sequence of events surrounding the dismissal of Sam and I believe you were acting with your partner’s best interest at heart. If you conduct a search of respected bloggers such as Tom Raftery you’ll find that Sam was very generous with his words.
Thanks
Paul
Should ditch that Butcher fool to, he doesn’t quite tell it how it is either !! Nor does he spell too well !
The Lizard King
not sure Sam has been the one crossing the line on this one… Nice try but not very convincing.
Paul, I don’t know what to say other than I was very clear in my post above that TechCrunch had no financial interest in the conference. The reason I didn’t attend is that the conference did not want to pay my expenses to be there, and so we cancelled at the last minute.
If you think I’m lying, dig up evidence and publish it. My credibility would be destroyed, of course, and TechCrunch would have trouble continuing on as a viable blog. I’m confident that isn’t going to happen.
You may want to consider the cost/benefit of me lying about something like this. Doesn’t add up.
‘These events were not discussed with me, and certainly were not approved.’
This is kind of upper hand Americanism, and is it correct for you to approve things in Europe? Let individual countries dictate their own agendas. I worry also that you are inflicting *your* country’s cultural norms and practices on others. There’s more than an element of subjectiveness coming from you.
Sam was under the impression that you were going to attend the Techcrunch UK launch but you never attended that either. Perhaps Techcrunch shouldn’t sponsor/ partner with European events and organisations if the chief editor can’t afford / is not interested to fly across the pond.
I am really saddened by this development.
It is difficult to explain the massive impact the TechCrunch UK has had here in the UK. In the short time the publication existed it has probably done more for local entrepreneurs than anything else I can remember.
The writing has been really good. Different from the US version. More candid, personal and hands-on I’d say. Where the US version seems more like something aggregated automatically by a computer you know that the UK version were written by opinionated people with hands-on experience.
If find it easy to understand that Mr. Arrington became furious with Sam Seti for his momentary lapse of good judgement. Announcing those initiatives in that context and without having cleared it with proper authorities was both unprofessional and stupid.
But firing Sam (Mike?) and putting the publication on hold like this doesn’t seem like the right way. It would have been an excellent opportunity for Mr. Arrington to show good leadership and guide his staff and emerge with an even better publication. Firing people and closing down is the easy option.
Now we all lost: Sam and Mike lost their jobs, TechCrunch lost a lot of goodwill and the entrepreneurial community lost their afterburner. Bad day…
Mike,
Whatever you say, I’m sad to say that you’ve tarnished your reputation. I doubt you’ll get much support on this one – especially from those that know Sam. Not one person disagreed with Sam’s tame comment and as I said before, he gets my full support. Had Sam deleted the comment as per your request, it would have seriously impacted his reputation which is much more than TechCrunch UK & Ireland. In fact, he Tom Raftery and I discussed this very topic last week – the general consensus was that deleting comments is fundamentally wrong.
Also, just check out Tom Raftery’s blog to get a similar view of the conference organiser’s actions. Tom is also a respectable individual. I have yet to speak to one attendee who didn’t think the entire event was ruined as per my posts on Web2Ireland.
Perhaps this is a call for a code of conduct for bloggers? It’s something I’ve been discussing with a few people – I’d be interested to get your take on that (honestly).
http://www.web2ireland.org/
http://www.tomrafteryit.net/
I was at the event. Sam’s view was entirely reasonable. He then went out of his way to be reasonable. You call him out for organising ‘competing’ events to Techcrunch, and you imply that he exaggerated his original post to benefit his own events. This is outrageous. Sam has been talking about these upcoming events on Techcrunch UK for months. Don’t you read it? Read the bloggers – Sam was gentle in his criticism. I Le Web has imploded it is self inflicted. And now you say that you didn’t turn up because Loic wouldn’t pay your airfare. Well, what about everyone who paid to attend and who paid for their own airfares and who paid for their own hotels – all because they read the program and made a decision based on who was speaking. That included the founder of Techcrunch. So it gets even worse – that huge conference cancels Mike Arrington because it doesn’t want to pay the airfare? To me that’s an offence under the Trades Description Acts – you can’t just sell a product and then change your mind and, oh, sorry guys, we decided we can’t afford to fly a keynoter over.
I’m not sure where this leaves us, but the whole thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
So, let me get this right. You hire someone to do a job and then you fire him for doing that job?
I cant see how Sam crossed the line, ok he promoted TCUK events without your blessing (so what, could it damage your brand, don think so) have you seen the amount of support is out there for Sam? He seems very well respected.
I guess if this chap was making you a lot of dosh from such events, he’d be your best friend.
Have you ever heard of looking out for your mate?
The only one to cross the line was you.
Not sure what else to say. We have clear rules on ethical behavior and Sam crossed those lines. The fact that he pushed the issue after we discussed removing the Loic comment suggests that he wanted this outcome to happen.
Ivan, I don’t disagree with your comments above about the cancellation. That is something you’ll have to take up with the conference. Didn’t Niklas Zennstrom take the keynote spot? That sounds like a good replacement to me.
Emily – that’s a nice sentiment, but the fact of the matter is that TechCrunch takes all financial responsiblity for these events, so your idea wouldn’t exactly work. Please also reconsider your anti-american statements. It suggests ignorance.
I don’t agree with what you’ve done to Sam.
As I read that posting this afternoon I though to myself ‘Respect Sam. He called you an asshole and you’ve held back from slamming back into Le Web and even been able to find something positive to say.’
It was a good display of ‘stiff upper lip’. Jolly good show Mr Sethi.
Steve.
I am deeply sad of all this story. Sam has demonstrated he is a great person by publishing fair and balanced analysis even when Loic was trashing him.
Techcrunch has lost its crunchyness today.
Even excuses from you and Loic would not make Techcrunch the same again.
Sad.
What a pity this is all happening. Just because two French politicians were invited to the event. Big mistake. But if we think at it from a global point of view, it is not such a big deal. I am afraid what happens is that we become too agressive when we are in front of a computer and not facing people.
What about English law here, if Sam was employed in the UK? If you terminate anyone’s employment (unless its gross misconduct), you have to give 3 warnings. Even when there’s misconduct, you have to give the person a right to a fair hearing.
This is what I mean re imposing US values on other countries. This goes for any country and their cultural values.
Mike, Thank you for being so candid in your post. It sounds like you did the right thing. It is important that the other “arms” of your business operate with the same respect as you have dictated to them. This is not at all odd for you to expect of your employees despite what some of the commenter’s have suggested.
Travis Stoliker
Clearly, Mike is within his rights to do whatever he wants with Techcrunch, being as it’s “his thing”. If he can’t decide how it’s run, then who can?
The bit I don’t understand in all this, though, is the relationship between Techcrunch and the conference. In what what way was Techcrunch “a sponsor/partner of this conference”, if there was no financial arrangement between the two parties. I mean, simply agreeing to speak at a conference doesn’t make someone a sponsor or a partner.
It just seems a bit odd to be listed as a sponsor/partner if there’s no business relationship…
Simon – I agree, it was an odd relationship, and not something we’ll do again in the future.
As I’ve posted against the original hold announcement, this is a real shame. Xav’s right. Techcrunch is less crunchy today.
This is really sad. I’ve been loads of interesting events since I started reading TCUKI (just came back from a Mashup even sponsored by TCUKI). I met Sam a few weeks at an event and thought he was a really great guy. I can’t believe you sacked him for this – he really seemed to stir things up here and when I read his blog about those sponsored events I thought great.
I think if you want the sort of “get up & go guy” as Sam obviously is then he might take some initiatives & not necessarily ask for approval for every idea he has. I usually believe it is better “to seek forgiveness than to ask permission” but I guess it wasn’t for Sam.
You shouldn’t have deleted the first comment by Loic.
Once the conversation went to the unprofessional side by Sam in your opinion, you have every right as his boss to address the issue as you see fit.
However, I don’t think a comment can be taken back once it is published. I’d like to see what Loic said. Blogging is an transparent medium and I want to understand both sides of the story so I can make a more informed judgement.
Emily, nice thought, i think you’ll find though, for Gross Misconduct(as oppossed to straight ‘misconduct’) your employment in the UK can be terminated instantly with no notice.
Of course you could put this to the test and try punching your boss’s lights out tomorrow, and see how long it takes for your employer to dismiss you ?
The Lizard King
I’m sure there will be conflicting versions of events & opinions back & forth on this for weeks – often there’s a problem on both sides.
However – these things happen. I really keen to see Techcrunch UK continue – with Sam if that’s possible, but without if that’s all that can be resolved – it’s a news organisation not a personal blog.
I can only second what others have already said here: this seems like a real shame for the UK entrepreneur community. After just a short time, Sam had really made Techcrunch UK into a name, providing both excellent coverage of the UK scene and also providing some much-needed impetus for a range of excellent events.
I’m not sure who’s wrong and who’s right in all this, but it does seem rather petty to let something as trivial as this screw up such a great success story in the making.
Mike, I agree with Ivan Pope. TCUK has been reporting for some weeks that it was trying to provide a forum for startups in the UK to promote themselves to investors (of which I am one)- “Money Mondays” was hardly secret. This was a fabulous idea designed to help startups find investor backing. The UK community via TCUK was endeavouring to remedy some of the endemic & systemic faults that impede us (Brits) replicating the Valley successes. Why would you seek to stifle this, when it enhances the brand’s significance? Moreover TCUK was one of the few brands with the credibility to organise such an event.
I too endorse the comments relating to the gutsy editorial opinions that we got to see on the TCUK site with Sam & Mike, something not always evident on the main site. Le Web was already being trashed on most blogs for a variety of failings, with even the BBC giving it poor reviews.
We have to respect its “your ball” and you can do as you choose with it, including take it home to the US. Sadly I think you may have made the lapse in judgement on this one but suspect its irretrievable now.
Mike, there is nothing greater than admitting a mistake. It is a strength and not a weakness…
It’s a shame that TechCrunch UK & Ireland isn’t around any more. However, I wouldn’t worry too much as it’s about “people”, not the name of a URI. In fact, this episode can only raise Sam’s profile even more and highlight the true differentiator between TechCrunch.com and whatever is created to replace TechCrunch UK & IRL – that is, the newly created blog will be honest, open, transparent, ethical and professional. It certainly won’t encourage the deletion of comments just because one or two people don’t like them.
I was helping Sam to bridge the gap between the UK & Ireland and will be more than happy to continue with this under a different name. That’s not to say we have to be enemies, we’ll just disagree on what is considered to be ethical. I’m not quite confident that a code of conduct for bloggers will be something that some people find useful – keep an eye on http://contentlabel.org and http://searchthresher.com
BTW, even Sam’s last post on TechCrunch was deleted – I wouldn’t have minded if it was disrespectful, but it wasn’t, it simply said that there was a disagreement and he was no longer at TC. So, it is you Mike who started this tennis match by taking away the focus on the conference and placing it on TechCrunch by slating Sam’s professionalism and ethics (an extreme measure IMHO) – not once did he do this with you, as he was loyal until the very end. I know this for certain because I was on a Skype call throughout your exchange of emails, hence how my blog posts were out there first.
You can check out my comments (again) on the Irish Web 2 site http://www.web2ireland.org/
“All I can say is, damn, and damn. Techcrunch UK really seemed to be making a difference; it was just what the UK start-up scene needed.”
Why do people keep talking about this as if Sam was run over by a bus today? He’s fired, not dead, and Michael Arrington’s likely to learn the risk you take when you build a business on hired bloggers. They can start their own thing and take the readers with them.
Bugger I was about to send in my Monday Monday pitch.
Please bring it back for us loyal Brit Fans.
Emily, can you not comment any further. You are a RACIST person and your CREDIBILITY is shat!
This is mike’s gig and how he handles it is up to him, we might not agree with him, but that is the way it is.
I disagree with you Rogers of Cadenhead.
That is a very nice last name by the way
.
I disagree with you in that techcrunch has such a huge influence and audience that as long as it keeps to sub par mode, people will follow it because we want to know what other people are reading.
I do agree that Mike really needs to get organized and start realizing this or he will fail to capitalize on techcrunch in the long run.
who wrote this post?
I think the name brand might actually win in this battle.
David vs Goliath, but lets be serious, DAVID GOT SMASHED!
Mike, you has transformed a global discontent into a leweb3-gate…
Just like to add, in retrospect:
Sam was amazing in his Techcrunch role. I can’t think of anyone else who would/could turn up at so many events, party all night, and then turn up at the next one. He did invigorate the scene, that’s for sure. And I say this as someone who just had his own ‘falling out’ with him over those self-same Techcrunch/not Techcrunch events. I think Techcrunch won’t easily find someone to take up that mantle, but we’ll see. I’m watching where Sam pops up next.
Ivan, I to do not like Mike A, because of his lack of disclosure, but you need to get off Sam’s nutz for a bit, so he can post his story.
Do you want fish and chips with that?
Whatever the rationale behind all this – it is either a very good marketing stunt or a real shame and ultimately costly mistake.
Sam has an immensely loyal and influential following among the UK entrepreneur, vc, and blogger community, and has added immense value in helping to bring the scene to life.
If it comes down to it, I think that loyal and influential following will choose to follow Sam rather than the Techcrunch brand after this.
LAST POST, from the heckler:
TCUK will survive and if Sam is smart he will accept the offer of coming back when Mike can muster enough self respect to extend the offer to welcome back a friend and employee to move forward past this little fiascal.
What a happy ending……….
This does not class as gross misconduct for the purposes of English law. And there still has to be an investigation, even where it is thought to be gross misconduct. An employment tribunal will look at factors such as did you give the employee an opportunity to state his case? Did you hold a disciplinary hearing, chaired by someone who was impartial? Did you give them time to prepare for the disciplinary hearing (seems there wasn’t one)? Was gross misconduct defined (i.e. set out in a staff handbook)? Was there an opportunity to appeal?
All standard employment tribunal questions. The burden of proof falls on the employer.
Racist, how so? I’m trying to say that countries cannot impose their values on other countries. The fact that you cannot recognise this clearly makes you racist. Look what happened with Iraq. British Empire.
Mike. You have lost your mind. You have let your ego impede any journalistic integrity you have ever had. The “Love our Sponsors” posts on TC-US were always iffy, but this whole incident proves to me that you have always been in the pocket of those from whom you would financially gain. This is sad.
You started out a blog and turned it into a successful business. This is wonderful. But then you bought into yourself as a saviour. That is crap. Take a holiday and relax.
BIG MISTAKE by Arrington.
You’re not convicing Mike.
Loic Le Meur is definitely an arse, and he tarnished his reputation big time.
Sam Sethi is a great guy and deserves more respect.
Loic, you just sucked big time. Admit it.
This probably starts the fall of TechCrunch Intl.
If you are interested in the Money Monday pitch you could still post to the http://www.etribes.com/startup/register site which was originally being done by TCUK but now can live by itself presumably.