An excerpt from writer, critic and long-time industry observer Gram Ponante’s deep-dive into the recent bloodbath at AVN
“It was like a bucket of cold water,” says Dan Miller, Editor-in-Chief of AVN Magazine which, since 1983, has been the publication of record in the adult industry. He is calling to tell me that the freelance budget has been cut entirely and I will be let go. It’s awful news and he is sorry to give it. More than 20 people from across the company got similar news. The editorial staff, which once numbered in the dozens and easily employed double-digits full time, has been reduced to two: Miller and Peter Warren, both of whom have been with the publication for almost two decades.
There was a similar round of layoffs in April of 2020 when Managing Editor Sharan Street and Novelties editor Sherri Shaulis were laid off. With the departure of these two full-timers, AVN’s in-house editorial division consisted of two middle-aged men. Today, since Portland-based fetish and BDSM authority Theresa “Darklady” Reed was laid off, as well as regular contributor Anka Radakovich, there are no female writers at the porn trade publication. . . .
Adult Video News was founded as the newsletter of a Philadelphia porno store in 1983 by Paul Fishbein, who is now an independent producer of documentary films. Fishbein took AVN west in the 1990s and presided over a rip-roaring company that was at once a trade publication for the adult industry, an advertising-fueled news outlet (I was hired in 2002 as the editor of AVN.com and was fired after I wrote something inconvenient about major advertiser Digital Playground, then freelanced off and on until this morning), and an awards arbiter. There were a lot of masters to serve; it was like if Variety hosted the Oscars.
Gram Ponante is “America’s Beloved Porn Journalist™,” and his site is an essential destination for those seeking the straight scoop on the adult industry.