Freakonomics leaving NYTimes site

Jeff Bercovici of Forbes.com reports that the popular Freakonomics blog is leaving the New York Times online business page next month for its own site.

Bercovici writes, “Chad Troutwine, producer of the ‘Freakonomics’ documentary released last fall, recently sent around an email soliciting candidates for an ‘editor and media strategist’ to run the new site, Freakonomics.com. ‘As Employee #1, this person will have the chance to take an influential position in what we believe will be a media juggernaut (OK, that may be a stretch, but we are confident in the site’s ability to attract millions of visitors almost immediately),’ Troutwine wrote. ‘We are not publicly announcing the NY Times migration in advance, so please keep this confidential for now.’

“(Whoops!)

“Freakonomics has been part of the Times since August 2007. I emailed Troutwine to ask whether the decision to split now had anything to do with the coming of the paywall, which I’m now hearing won’t be happening before early February. Times executives have said that visits to the paper’s blogs will count toward the limits allowed under the new metered model. I haven’t heard back from Troutwine yet, but a  Times spokeswoman says, ‘I can’t really answer the question as to how the pay model might have impacted Freakonomics, but I can tell you that their planned departure was a mutual decision by both The Times and Freakonomics and the pay model was not a major factor in that decision.'”

Read more here.