The close reader of Jalopnik may have noticed Patrick George has mostly been in charge since this summer and the result has been amazing stories, an expansion into new areas like motorcycles, and coverage you don’t get anywhere else. He’s now officially in charge as the site’s fifth Editor-in-Chief.
When we found Patrick he was writing about crime and murders for the Austin American-Statesman and, when he could, cars. There’s slightly less crime to cover at Jalopnik, but he brought with him the sharp reporting skills he honed at a newspaper to the blogging game.
His version of Jalopnik has focused more on strong writing and deep reporting, while also continuing to embrace the kind of dumb enthusiasm that we all have for cars.
Joining him as his deputy will be Michael Ballaban, who started out on our user forum OppositeLock when he wasn’t writing about M&A for Merger Market. While he hasn’t entirely abandoned the world of financial reporting, he’s now freaking out about Teslas and driving Ariel Atoms.
I couldn’t be prouder of this group and more confident that they’ll continue to do the kinds of stories that make Jalopnik different and better than every other automotive outlet in the world.
With them in charge I also feel confident about doing something I haven’t done for eight years, which is not work just for Jalopnik. While this was announced in a leaked memo a couple of weeks ago I don’t think anyone here noticed that I recently took a job as Executive Editor, Publishing Partnerships for all of Gawker Media.
I’ll be taking a lot of what we’ve learned at the site the past few years and help apply those lessons to all of the Gawker sites. I’ll still be around and I’ll still be a part of Jalopnik, but my day-to-day will have a broader focus.
Also, I want to right a wrong that has stood for too long. Ray Wert didn’t take anything to his high school reunion. He was going to take the Jeep but, in the famous tradition of Jalopnik writers, he broke it.
Contact the author at matt@jalopnik.com. Photo via AP.