It managed to be, in a way it never had been, the kind of place about which you could say, “I could see myself being here in ten years.” Which I did often enough for it to seem funny now, since I myself would end up dramatically quitting in the summer of 2015, a little more than a year after being promoted to editor-in-chief and a little less than a year before the company would declare bankruptcy and auction itself off to the highest bidder. Just over a decade old, Gawker still thought of itself as a pirate ship, but a very big pirate ship, ballasted by semi-respectable journalism, and much less prone to setting itself on fire than in its early days, when its writers had a tendency to make loud and famous enemies and when its staff was subjected to near-annual purges - unless they were able to dramatically quit first. For a certain kind of person, at any rate - ambitious, rebellious, and eager for attention, all of which I was. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.It feels a bit strange to say this now, but in the spring of 2014 there was no better place to work than Gawker. And if you don’t, that’s really more of a ‘you’ problem, I think.” “We are here to make you laugh, I hope, and think, and do a spit-take or furrow your brow, or maybe go ‘huh!’ or ‘wow!’ or ‘damn!’ or ‘what the f-k?’ or ‘I’m glad someone finally said it!,”‘ concludes Finnegan. With this in mind, Finnegan asked readers to “approach this new iteration of Gawker with an open mind and an open heart,” as they scroll through the highly stylized website and eclectic columns like “Ask a F-k up,” self-mocking posts like “Here’s what some people think about Gawker coming back” and irreverent items entitled: “Adam Neuman spotted in the Hamptons with a pizza and a rabbi,” or “Do Justin and Hailey Bieber hate each other?” Gawker founder Nick Denton shuttered the site and filed for bankruptcy in 2016. The kerfuffle landed in the courts and it tripped up the launch.Ī year later, Goldberg tapped former Details editor in chief Dan Peres, but the editor had trouble hiring staffers and had couldn’t get the relaunch off the ground. Goldberg tried to relaunch the site two years later under Carson Griffith, but before it got off the ground, the Daily Beast wrote a story accusing Griffith of making racist and homophobic remarks to her tiny relaunch staff. Wrestler Hulk Hogan put Gawker out of business when he won a $140 million judgment against the site. Goldberg, who was often mocked by Denton’s Gawker as a “clueless scamp,” bought the site for $1.35 million. That past included then-Gawker owner Nick Denton losing a $140 million invasion-of-privacy lawsuit to Hulk Hogan over the site’s posting a video of the wrestler having sex with his best friend’s wife. That debacle caused the site to shutter and file for bankruptcy in 2016. The chief issue for most was the site’s troubled past and the apparent lack of clear direction for its future, sources told The Post. Over time, Finnegan warmed to the idea, which is lucky for Goldberg, who spent the early days of the pandemic approaching loads of New York-based journalists to take the gig. “Who in God’s name would would want to edit a website that was cratered by an evil tech lord and sullied by a botched relaunch? The Gawker name was toxic, but also weirdly revered an intractable combination.” “When Bustle Digital Group first approached me to revive Gawker last year, I said absolutely no way in hell,” Finnegan writes. Bryan Goldberg, CEO of Bustle Digital Group, bought Gawker at a bankruptcy auction in 2018. Leah Finnegan, a sharp-tongued writer and editor who was tapped to helm Gawker earlier this year, gives hints in her letter from the editor, which sits on the homepage alongside a doctored image of “The Resurrection of Christ,” in which Jesus is holding a Gawker flag and superimposed images of Lena Dunhan’s head and the Phillie Phanatic mascot watch below. A Bustle spokeswoman confirmed that the site launched in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, but declined to provide details as to why it was making such a low-key debut. News spilled out this spring that Gawker was making its debut but no specific date was given. Picked up at a bankruptcy auction three years ago by Bustle Digital Group, the site reappeared in a third iteration after Bustle’s headstrong CEO Bryan Goldberg attempted to resuscitate the toxic site twice before. Gawker - the snarky gossip site that went bankrupt five years ago because of a lawsuit over a Hulk Hogan sex tape - quietly relaunched on Wednesday, begging readers to have an “open mind and an open heart.” News, gossip site Gawker shuts down - again!ĭeadspin owner G/O Media buys business news site Quartzįirebrand writer tapped to bring Gawker back from the deadįormer Gawker editor withdraws defamation lawsuit against ex-employee
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |