Peter Thiel vs Gawker

[Martinus]

Interesting - once again a questionable premise argued by Hogan's lawyers and apparently accepted uncritically by the trial judge - in this case that the Ziff-Davis $90 million bid was equivalent to a valuation - turns out to be wrong.

I am not familiar with US bankruptcy laws, but wouldn't Univision be buying Gawker's assets without its liabilities, on account of this being done as a part of bankruptcy case? If so, the overall valuation of Gawker is probably much lower than what Univision is paying.

[MadImmortalMan]

I would guess it would depend on the outcome of the case, since the value of the entity would be significantly affected.

[Sheilbh]

I am not sure people writing for Gawker can be called "journalists", and posting stupid shit online during an unpaid internship "working".

Snob. You probably say the same about Buzzfeed

A lovely piece on why working for Gawker was great - from a journo now at the New Yorker, hating Peter Thiel
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/gawker-was-a-great-place-to-become-a-journalist

[grumbler]

I am not sure people writing for Gawker can be called "journalists", and posting stupid shit online during an unpaid internship "working".

Snob. You probably say the same about Buzzfeed

A lovely piece on why working for Gawker was great - from a journo now at the New Yorker, hating Peter Thiel
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/gawker-was-a-great-place-to-become-a-journalist

That article is an excellent argument for Marti's assertion that journalism isn't what Gawker was about.  This is all one sentence in his article: "I thought it was so cool when Choire Sicha, the editor at the time, put up a post protesting a change in the color of Gawker's own headline fonts, designed to appease the site's advertisers, and how Sicha and his co-editor, Emily Gould, announced that they were quitting the site at the very end of a meandering account of an evening they had spent with Keith Gessen, the founder of the literary magazine n+1 and a favorite target of Gawker, during which they discussed an essay that had recently run in n+1 . . . about Gawker."  Good writing is getting harder to find, especially when writers like this get published anyway.

[Martinus]

I am not sure people writing for Gawker can be called "journalists", and posting stupid shit online during an unpaid internship "working".

Snob. You probably say the same about Buzzfeed

A lovely piece on why working for Gawker was great - from a journo now at the New Yorker, hating Peter Thiel
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/gawker-was-a-great-place-to-become-a-journalist

I hope you posted this ironically - because with gems like:

One of Gawker's key innovations was to industrialize this utopian impulse, by putting writers in front of a mass audience while still encouraging them to express themselves however they wanted, as long as they wrote a sufficient number of posts and attracted a decent number of page views

I was mostly captivated by the site's gonzo style, in which Gawker's most engaging writers became starring characters in the drama they covered.

At the same time, the opportunity to write anything and have it appear on the front page of Gawker was exhilarating. I could put out an endless stream of swear words, make fun of someone I didn't like, or construct a penis from numbers and symbols (8===D, haha).

it seems to encapsulate everything that is wrong with modern online "journalism".

[Valmy]

One of Gawker's key innovations was to industrialize this utopian impulse, by putting writers in front of a mass audience while still encouraging them to express themselves however they wanted, as long as they wrote a sufficient number of posts and attracted a decent number of page views

Yeah? Well fuck Gawker then.

[Sheilbh]

God forbid a media outlet should be fun. Pearl clutching aside there's nothing wrong with tabloid fun or a style that manages to still seem like a personal blog.

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring. Gawker was never that.

[Valmy]

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring.

Well let's just say I couldn't disagree more with this statement. But then I am certainly not the audience for shock jocks like these turds.

[Sheilbh]

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring.

Well let's just say I couldn't disagree more with this statement. But then I am certainly not the audience for shock jocks like these turds.

Don't have to be a shock-jock. The FT isn't boring, neither's Politico - they're just niche which is fine. But if they're putting out stuff that noone can be arsed, to read then they deserve to fail. The key for any journo is to be interesting and engaging because they're asking us to take the time out to read them

[Hamilcar]

All Hail Immortal Vampire Thiel.

[Legbiter]

The Gawker offices today:

Jezebel still lives. Job isn't done.

[The Minsky Moment]

Interesting - once again a questionable premise argued by Hogan's lawyers and apparently accepted uncritically by the trial judge - in this case that the Ziff-Davis $90 million bid was equivalent to a valuation - turns out to be wrong.

I am not familiar with US bankruptcy laws, but wouldn't Univision be buying Gawker's assets without its liabilities, on account of this being done as a part of bankruptcy case? If so, the overall valuation of Gawker is probably much lower than what Univision is paying.

There was about $20 million in secured debt, but that would impact the Ziff-Davis bid equally.
The Bollea judgment was the only unsecured obligation.

[The Minsky Moment]

God forbid a media outlet should be fun. Pearl clutching aside there's nothing wrong with tabloid fun or a style that manages to still seem like a personal blog.

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring. Gawker was never that.

Our American posters are forgetting that the First Amendment protects freedom of the press.  Not freedom of "journalism"

[Valmy]

God forbid a media outlet should be fun. Pearl clutching aside there's nothing wrong with tabloid fun or a style that manages to still seem like a personal blog.

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring. Gawker was never that.

Our American posters are forgetting that the First Amendment protects freedom of the press.  Not freedom of "journalism"

Does the First Amendment compel me to approve of everything? Damn. Is happiness also mandatory?

[garbon]

God forbid a media outlet should be fun. Pearl clutching aside there's nothing wrong with tabloid fun or a style that manages to still seem like a personal blog.

The biggest crime of any journalism is to be boring. Gawker was never that.

Our American posters are forgetting that the First Amendment protects freedom of the press.  Not freedom of "journalism"

Does the First Amendment compel me to approve of everything? Damn. Is happiness also mandatory?

Yes