Gawker's bad karma

(Image credit: iStock)

published 3 June 2016

By all rights, I should be rooting for Gawker. I've spent my working life as an editor and reporter, and believe free speech is one of our most critical rights. But now that the snarky website is facing financial ruin because of a vendetta by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, whom it outed as gay nearly a decade ago, I find myself... conflicted. It would be terrible for my profession and for the country if powerful billionaires with axes to grind could sue publications into financial ruin for running legitimate news stories. But here's the rub: I don't consider Gawker's outing of Thiel as journalism. Ditto for the video it aired of Hulk Hogan having sex. No public interest was served by these mean-spirited intrusions into private sex lives. None.

Like other rights, free speech is not absolute. You can be sued for libeling people or invading their privacy for no legitimate reason, and no "Old Media" newspaper or magazine would have even considered publishing the Thiel-is-gay story or the Hogan sex tape. But in the everything-goes ethos of New Media, editing is optional, and news judgment often takes a back seat to whatever will bring clicks. At its best, Gawker has done some fine reporting, and its writers' cultural and media criticism can be witheringly funny. But the site also has a habit of sadistically humiliating non-powerful people who fail to meet its smug standards for coolness and correctness. Last year, Gawker outed a married, unknown media executive for allegedly trying to hire a gay escort on a business trip. After Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon wrote about her battle with Stage IV cancer, Gawker mocked her for posting "irrelevant tidbits about your personal life," and advised her to quit writing altogether. Now Gawker founder Nick Denton, who's gotten very rich off such bullying, complains he's being bullied. That's karma for you. It can be ruthless, just like Gawker.

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William Falk is editor-in-chief of The Week, and has held that role since the magazine's first issue in 2001. He has previously been a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes.

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