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Keith Pompey’s Philadelphia Inquirer Departure is “Bio Removed from the Website” Official
Published:
Longtime 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey is no longer with the Philadelphia Inquirer. It was the worst kept secret in the world, since he hasn’t written for the paper/website since February, and no longer lists the Inquirer on social media, but they only just removed his bio after several months of behind the scenes back and forth involving LAWYERS:
No Pompey.
He hasn’t said anything publicly about his departure. We’ve asked him for details and haven’t gotten any. The Inquirer and the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia both hit us with a “no comment.” Nobody is saying anything at all on the record, which normally means that these things are pretty deep in the legal weeds. Based on the fact that Pompey hadn’t written anything since February 12th, and then his bio wasn’t removed until last week, it would point to a lengthy dispute that leaves a lot of blanks to fill in.
Regardless, when someone works at a place for 20+ years and then disappears mysteriously, we believe that loyal subscribers should get some sort of explanation for what happened. We should get #ExplanationFlow.
Personally, I haven’t heard much, but was told that the relationship between Pompey and the Inquirer had been rocky for a long time. There was conflict with the new regime, with the new editors that came in after the BLM staff reckoning, and there was a butting of heads with other Inquirer writers as well. I think that’s fair to say. I couldn’t tell you about a smoking gun that finally tipped the scales, but I did talk to a couple of people who said they weren’t surprised that it came down to this. One described the Pompey vs. leadership reckoning as “a long time coming.” From what I can gather, there was a lot of strain behind the scenes and it finally crested after years of build up.
Luckily for Keith, he missed the Sixers putrid sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks, and didn’t have to write about it. So perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. Beat writer Gina Mizell has most of the bylines from recent months, with NBA editor DeAntae Prince and the columnists (Marcus Hayes, Mike Sielski, and David Murphy) doing what they do. They have a handful of general assignment-type reporters and some college students that chip in as well.
Pompey joined the Inquirer in 2004 and was Sixers beat writer since 2013. He was one of the sports department veterans and the 2024 recipient of the Stan Hochman Award for Journalism Excellence.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com