TechCrunch writer quits after Arrington leaves

Diana Samuels of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports that TechCrunch writer Paul Carr has quit because he doesn’t want to work for new editor Erick Schofield.

Samuels writes, “Carr wrote that while TechCrunch’s staffers were “making a stand for the site’s editorial independence” from Huffington Post and AOL content boss Arianna Huffington, Schonfeld ‘cut a side deal with Huffington to guarantee him the top job once Mike was gone.’

“Carr previously wrote that he would quit TechCrunch if Arrington wasn’t given the opportunity to choose his own replacement. Arrington, who founded TechCrunch, announced his resignation from the blog on Monday following a storm of controversy about a new venture fund he is starting, CrunchFund, and potential conflicts of interest with the companies TechCrunch writes about.

“Arrington and TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde likely would have picked Schonfeld as at least an interim editor, Carr wrote, ‘yet when Arianna called, he answered.’

“Carr also quoted a conversation he had with Arrington, in which Arrington said, ‘At the point Erick began negotiating with Arianna instead of standing firm with the rest of us, he became nothing more that Arianna’s pet. All hope for independence with him at the lead became lost.'”

Read more here.