Paul Miller Leaving Engadget

On his personal blog:

I’d love to be able to keep doing this forever, but unfortunately Engadget is owned by AOL, and AOL has proved an unwilling partner in this site’s evolution. It doesn’t take a veteran of the publishing world to realize that AOL has its heart in the wrong place with content. As detailed in the “AOL Way,” and borne out in personal experience, AOL sees content as a commodity it can sell ads against. That might make good business sense (though I doubt it), but it doesn’t promote good journalism or even good entertainment, and it doesn’t allow an ambitious team like the one I know and love at Engadget to thrive.

I’m sad to hear this. Paul’s a great writer, and has been vocal about his faith throughout his career.

While I’m sure there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Paul stepping down, I’m not surprised to see strains in the Engadget/AOL relationship. I think the site would probably do well as an independent publisher, but it is sad to see it lose good people until that can happen.