The AOL Way or the Highway: Engadget Editors Paul Miller and Ross Miller Quit

No one could say Paul Miller wasn't prolific, as he worked his way up the food chain — contributing, associate, senior associate editor — of Engadget, one of the web's biggest tech blogs. 

Over the weekend Miller announced his departure by blog post, noting that, "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."

With the recent acquisition of the Huffington Post, it's clear CEO Tim Armstrong is trying to sharpen the focus of AOL during its transformation to a media company. But the relentless drive towards profit doesn't sit well with editorial staffers like Miller.

"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," wrote Miller. 

On Sunday Associate Editor Ross Miller announced his departure from Engadget as well, citing the AOL way as a catalyst. Josh Topolsky, editor-in-chief, tweeted this out in response. 

bpopper [at] observer.com | @benpopper