'Deadline Detroit' Is Going Dark

Deadline Detroit, a digital publication that covered the Motor City, is closing.  

Co-founder Allan Lengel writes that “after Sept. 5, this website will go dark.” 

Lengel adds that, “after celebrating Deadline Detroit’s 10-year anniversary in April, I’ve simply run out of juice, the 24/7 grind of overseeing an online publication with few vacations has taken its toll.” 

Possible sale of the product never came to fruition.  

Deadline Detroit’s readership averaged 600,000 unique visits per month, and went as high as 1.2 million during the pandemic, Lengel writes.  

The publication was known for its uncompromising reporting.  

“It never helped us financially that we had no sacred cows, that we went after folks like the Ilitch group, or Beaumont, which were never going to give us a dime in advertising,” Lengel continues. “We never held back when it was justified.”  

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Lengel thanked Peter Karmanos Jr., co-founder of Compuware and now CEO of MadDog Technology, who was “generous in funding us, and supportive beyond any expectations.” He also thanked staffers and co-founder Bill McGraw. 

The site’s feature, The Week That Was, will continue to be posted on Deadline Detroit’s two Facebook pages and YouTube channel. And Detroit Digest may continue. 

Lengel worked for The Washington Post for 11 years, and returned to Detroit to care for his elderly parents and launch Deadline Detroit.  

He will continue to do Saturday morning radio shows with Adolph Mongo.

1 comment about "'Deadline Detroit' Is Going Dark".
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  1. T Bo from Wordpress, August 18, 2022 at 8:06 a.m.

    Founder exhaustion is the most likely endpoint for digital news media.

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