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Gawker editors resign in protest after story outing Conde Nast executive is removed
Two of Gawker’s senior editors have resigned in the wake of the website running a controversial story that outed a senior executive at publishing company Condé Nast.
Tommy Craggs, the Executive Editor of Gawker Media, and Gawker.com editor-in-chief, Max Read, stand by the decision to run the story and suggest that removing it came about because senior management were concerned about losing advertising revenue.
The story was posted last Thursday. Written by Jordan Sargent, it included allegations made by a former porn star (who was granted anonymity by the website), that the media executive concerned – who Gay Star News has chosen not to name – had attempted to hire him for sex.
The article included screenshots of text messages and identified the executive concerned. He is married to a woman and has children. He is not a public figure, but has a brother who previously worked for the Obama administration.
Gawker – which was founded by gay entrepreneur Nick Denton – was immediately criticized by many commentators for appearing to out the executive as gay or bisexual.
Craggs informed Denton of the story on Thursday afternoon, a few hours before it was posted. According to the New York Times Denton expressed reservations but did not ask to read the article before it was posted online later that evening.
On Friday, the story was removed and Denton, who is CEO of Gawker and owns 68% of the company, posted a message saying that running the story was ‘a decision I regret.’
‘This story … does not rise to the level that our flagship site should be publishing.’
This was followed on Monday by a memo from Denton to staff. It said: ‘That post wasn’t what Gawker should stand for, and it is symptomatic of a site that has been out of control of editorial management.
‘Our flagship site carries the same name as the company, and the reputation of the entire company rests on its work. When Gawker itself is seen as sneering and callous, it affects all of us.’
The fallout from the story continues. Yesterday it was announced that Craggs and Read were resigning.
In a posting on Gawker.com, it was made clear that they stood by the decision to publish the original article, and were outraged that Gawker management had voted to remove it.
‘In letters sent today, Craggs and Read informed staff members that the managing partnership’s vote to remove a controversial post … a unprecedented act endorsed by zero editorial employees – represented an indefensible breach of the notoriously strong firewall between Gawker’s business interests and the independence of its editorial staff. Under those conditions, Craggs and Read wrote, they could not possibly guarantee Gawker’s editorial integrity,’ said J.K. Trotter in the posting.
The posting went on to reproduce the letter from Craggs. He says that the vote to remove the article came about because, ‘Advertisers such as Discover and BFGoodrich were either putting holds on their campaigns or pulling out entirely.’
He strongly criticized Gawker’s partners for not informing him or Read that that they were voting on whether to remove the article: ‘None of the partners in a company that prides itself on its frankness had the decency or intellectual wherewithal to make the case to the executive editor of Gawker Media for undermining (if not immolating) his job, forsaking Gawker’s too-often-stated, too-little-tested principles, and doing the most extreme and self-destructive thing a shop like ours could ever do.’
‘All I got at the end of the day was a workshopped email from Denton, asking me to stay on and help him unfuck the very thing he’d colluded with the partners to fuck up.’
Read’s separate letter said: ‘This was not an easy decision. I hope the partnership group recognizes the degree to which it has betrayed the trust of editorial, and takes steps to materially reinforce its independence.’
Gay Star Business have approached Gawker for comment about Read and Craggs’ claims.
It’s not unclear what the motive was behind the publishing of the original article, although Read himself tweeted last Thursday: ‘given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies fucking around on their wives.’
given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies fucking around on their wives
— max read (@max_read) July 17, 2015
Gawker started life as a media gossip site, brazenly posting stories that other media may have been wary of touching. It has been involved with several controversies in its past, and is currently facing a $100million lawsuit from Hulk Hogan that could potentially bankrupt it.
However, it’s growing popularity and stature has seen it evolve its editorial stance; as Denton claimed last Friday when the article was removed: ‘Gawker is no longer the insolent blog that began in 2003.’
Some commentators have suggested that the controversy reveals a deep split between the management team at Gawker and the editorial staff. Andrew Wallenstein, Co-Editor-In-Chief at Variety, suggested ‘The battle for the soul of Gawker is underway. Presuming the publication has one, that is.’
More evocative still was Ryan Holiday, editor at large for the New York Observer: ‘The site is tearing itself apart. Or maybe, a better image is that old legend about a scorpion surrounded by fire, stinging itself to death.’
Image: Dave Winer | Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia commons
The post Gawker editors resign in protest after story outing Conde Nast executive is removed appeared first on Gay Star News.
David Hudson
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