‘Root’ writers pressed to write more to ‘offset’ colleague’s death

Private equity owners of news outlet pressure staff to write more after coworker’s death

In a recent email to staff, an editor of an online news outlet — writing on behalf of the site's private equity ownership — pressured employees to increase their output to "offset" the loss in productivity from a colleague's sudden death.Semafor reported Wednesday that employees at The Root, which focuses on content geared toward Black audiences, were shocked to read an email from deputy editor Dustin Seibert in response to the death of writer S…

‘Root’ writers pressed to write more to ‘offset’ colleague’s death

The ScoopThe staff of The Root spent the beginning of 2025 mourning the death of a colleague, Stephanie Holland, “a gem, a wonderful collaborator and an all-around good person,” as her colleague wrote after the writer died December 31.A few days later, the deputy editor of The Root invoked Holland’s death in an email imploring the remaining writers to produce more content on behalf of G/O media, the private equity-backed firm that has been selli…

‘The Root’ Staffers Ordered To Write More Articles to ‘Offset the Tragic Loss’ of Colleague, Days After Her Death

g-omedia.com Staffers at The Root were ordered to write more articles for the news outlet this week in an effort to help “offset the tragic loss” of their colleague Stephanie Holland, who passed away on New Year’s Eve. Just days after Holland passed away at the age of 47, The Root deputy editor Dustin Seibert reportedly urged writers to ramp up their productivity to compensate. “We need each of you to write four trending stories daily. This will…

Memo: the deputy editor of The Root pressed writers to increase the number of stories they publish a day in part to “offset” a colleague's recent death

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