
Did I kill Gawker? - newswriter99
http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/08/did-i-kill-gawker.html?utm_campaign=select-all&utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1
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Overtonwindow
Does it really matter? Gawker needed to be brought down a peg. It was the
poster child for bad so-called journalistic behavior. Max Reed contributed to
that bad behavior. Gawker fell because society said enough, is enough, you
cannot violate someone's privacy and call it news just because you also call
yourself a journalist.

Reed, Denton, and everyone at Gawker should stop blaming others, or trying to
make excuses for their bad behavior, admit their culpability and promise to do
better.

~~~
Sumaso
Society didn't really do it. When you mess with people with power often
enough, eventually they will find a way to take you down.

~~~
sigzero
Well Society here would be the Jury that slapped their hand.

~~~
nsnick
You mean 12 Floridians?

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neom
"Among the most frustrating things about the Hogan lawsuit, as it slowly
marched toward trial, was that no one who hadn’t worked for Gawker seemed to
have any sympathy for the company." \- Not sure this should be surprising.
Personally I didn't read gawker but outside of some nostalgic love, my general
understanding is that most folks thought that it's impact on discourse was
more often negative than positive?

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RcouF1uZ4gsC
Reading the article makes me very glad that Gawker got sued into bankruptcy.
The author has no sense of introspection or empathy for others outside Gawker.
It reminds me of school bullies who do mean stuff to people and then say stuff
like "I was just kidding, can't you take a joke?"

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mikl
Karma killed Gawker. Its whole business model was evil, and sooner or later
some of the many, many people they were evil to, were bound to seek revenge.

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whipoodle
It's just one of those things where everyone on every side is an asshole. The
post outing Thiel (among others) was pretty disgusting, but I also don't think
we're in a better place for Gawker having been taken down.

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nsnick
This guardian article explains the danger posed by this type of lawsuit. It
does have a chilling effect on publishing and the media.

[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15/peter-
thi...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/15/peter-thiel-gawker-
bankruptcy-lawsuit-hulk-hogan-sextape)

~~~
nailer
Other Guardian articles make the point that you shouldn't publish other
people's sex tapes without their consent.

~~~
nsnick
Sure, but shouldn’t and shouldn’t be able to are totally different. Saying
that what gawker did was in poor taste and saying what Hulk Hogan and Peter
Thiel did has had a chilling effect on the media are completely compatible
statements.

~~~
nailer
How does people defending themselves from outing or unauthorized publication
of their sex tapes have a chilling effect on journalism?

I would have thought it has a chilling effect on outing people and
unauthorized publishing of sex tapes.

~~~
zimpenfish
Here's a pertinent current example:

[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2017/07/jim_de...](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2017/07/jim_derogatis_on_his_r_kelly_story_for_buzzfeed.html)

> Most of that time was spent, post–Hulk Hogan and Gawker, finding a media
> outlet that was willing to run it.

~~~
nailer
Not buying it. Having sex with underage kids is still a crime that can be
reported on and an off hand comment by a bitter Slate journalist who's sad his
power as a journalist to wreck lives has been curtailed doesn't change that.

Since you mentioned 'what Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel did' as if they're
somehow not the victims, I suspect you're a journalist too. Are you?

~~~
zimpenfish
> a bitter Slate journalist who's sad his power as a journalist to wreck lives

Jim DeRogatis doesn't work for Slate and has been exposing R Kelly's child
abuse since 2001.

> Since you mentioned 'what Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel did'

Wrong person.

> I suspect you're a journalist too.

And wrong career.

~~~
nailer
Fair enough.

Honestly surprised someone outside the profession would use 'what Hulk Hogan
and Peter Thiel did'. I know a bunch of otherwise-pleasant journalists who are
only ever pro publishing unauthorized sex tapes and outing when it comes to
Hogan and Thiel.

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Grue3
It's a shame that this person still has a career after that one article.

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adwi
This post is almost exactly a year old; should be labeled 2016.

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petraeus
Karma eventually does work

