In its earlier days, it published a “Gawker Stalker” map that pinpointed celebrity sightings.ĭenton was famous for burning through staffers, abruptly firing editors and reporters and hiring new ones. Gawker posted and then pulled a story that outed a Conde Nast executive who was married to a woman. Gawker was also known for take-downs that set a tone for the broader culture and defined a sense of cool, like Tom Scocca’s attack on ” smarm ” and the feel-good, “no haters” mentality that he felt was infecting the internet.īut the site also drew fire for stories that invaded others’ privacy.
Ford stuck out the ensuing scandal, but eventually opted not to run for re-election and died of cancer earlier this year. In one of its most famous scoops, Gawker reported the existence of a video in which then-Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoked crack, then launched a fundraiser - called, of course, a “Crackstarter” - to purchase it. But it also started producing stories that had impact well beyond alleviating the boredom of office workers.
In later years it branched out into salacious stories of all kinds, and still enjoyed needling establishment figures in media and technology. Gawker was a breeding ground for talented journalists, some of whom went on to jobs at the sort of establishment media outposts Gawker itself frequently mocked.Įarly on, the site was a breezy, insider-y chronicler of the media that made it a must-read for many in the industry. The site’s snarky and frequently vulgar style was influential throughout publishing. But it also burned out its writers quickly and could run roughshod over the line that separates jaded from mean-spirited, often at top speed. It waded into stories no one else would touch and broke big news. In its long and storied tenure, it raked muck and punched up, down and sideways. Univision wants those properties to help build a more youthful audience than that commanded by broadcast TV.īut among its brethren, always tended to command the spotlight. The company currently publishes six sites in addition to, including the feminist-focused Jezebel, the tech site Gizmodo and the sports site Deadspin.
And other Gawker Media blogs will live on. ’s last post will be Monday, Denton said, but its archives will remain online. “If you want to ascribe blame, blame Denton.” “The real shame is that Gawker gave Hogan a sledgehammer with which (to) pulverize it in state court,” New York University journalism professor Adam Penenberg tweeted. He also declared personal bankruptcy as a result of the Hogan case. While he suggested that might one day “have a second act,” he wrote that he’s getting out of the news and gossip business. But Denton, an outspoken former Financial Times journalist, said in a staff memo that he won’t be one of them. Univision said it had no comment on the matter.įederal bankruptcy judge Stuart Bernstein said on Thursday he’ll approve the sale, under which 95 percent of Gawker Media employees will get job offers at Univision. And it likely played a role in Univision’s decision to exclude from the sites it will pick up in the acquisition. Thiel’s vendetta against Gawker raised concerns about the influence wealthy individuals could wield by covertly working to undermine media companies they didn’t like. Thiel bankrolled Hogan’s lawsuit as what he called “specific deterrence” against the site’s penchant for “bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.” A spokesman for Thiel didn’t reply to a request for comment. Gawker Media went into bankruptcy protection after the verdict, and on Tuesday agreed to sell itself to Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, for $135 million.īut Gawker’s real enemy wasn’t Hogan so much as aggrieved Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, a PayPal founder and early investor in Facebook who a Gawker site had outed as gay in 2007. Gawker had published a video of Hogan having sex with a friend’s wife a Florida jury awarded Hogan $140 million in damages.
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The site’s proximate cause of death was a major invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought by the former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan.
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