RIP Gawker

Gawker, for those of you that don't know, is ceasing operations after 14 years of operation. Gawker, for those of you that REALLY don't know, is a NYC-based media-gossip site and an unwitting party to the creation of this blog. The purview of this space has always been to analyze pop culture, media and politics with a side of snark, a model perfected by Gawker Media. So you'll have to forgive me beforehand, but it's hard to talk about Gawker's end without talking about my beginning.

I started really writing this blog around the same time that I discovered Gawker. It provided me with an example of writing that I had, at that time, not seen anywhere else. It was funny and sardonic, but it was also smart and well-researched. The writers injected attitude into otherwise dry proceedings. I had no idea writers were allowed to do this. It could actually be fun to write about the news.

This blog, for better or worse, was started with Gawker's philosophy in mind: is it true and is it interesting? I err on the side of truth, but I've always attempted to make it fun. To make it palatable for an audience that doesn't want to slog through the painfully dry and the suspiciously inaccessible.

Perhaps it's uncouth to say so, but I learned a lot about what I know about the media and politics via Gawker. I learned about social justice and privilege. Gawker Media, often via their site, Jezebel, was incredibly vigilant when it came to pointing out "lapses in judgement" (read: ignorant shit) by everyone from corporations to politicians to universities (including mine). I wouldn't be half as aware, woke or otherwise in-the-know about what's going on socially if it hadn't been for Gawker.

Gawker wasn't just knuckle-rapping, though. Writers routinely kept up with consistent problems (worker's rights and sexual assault allegations among them), and held those responsible accountable. Was it gossip? Yes. Was it also journalism? Of course.

What Gawker did well, it did incredibly well. Gossip, an oft-pejorative term for frivolous crap, was what they thrived on. Sometimes it was frivolous, but more often than not, it was entrenched in something deeper. They went after stories that old media would never touch, and confronted powerful people on things that many publications were too afraid to ask. Notorious for raising two hundred thousand dollars to get their hands on a video taken of then-Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, smoking crack, Gawker brought the late mayor's sordid dealings into the light.

Of course, when a website's main goal is to scrutinize those with the strongest desire not to be scrutinized, trouble is inevitable. Such is the doomed case of Gawker Media. After outing Facebook angel investor and co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel in 2007, Gawker was put in Thiel's sights. But this didn't come into the light until, mid-trial over Gawker's publishing of Hulk Hogan's sex tape, Thiel reveled himself as the financier of the case against Gawker and announced his years-long vendetta to take the website down. He has since succeeded, with Hogan winning the case and Gawker Media filing for bankruptcy.

Which brings us to today. Several of the higher-traffic Gawker Media sites (Jezebel, Deadspin, etc.) have been purchased by Univision, but Gawker.com, the flagship site, has been relegated to its grave. The site will cease operations by the end of the week and so too shall its revolution. Many in the media far better versed in Gawker's rise and fall will have surely written any number of thinkpieces and essays, and I urge you (should you have any interest) to read them. But as for me, I just have fond memories and a will to write. The latter of which might never have existed had it not been for Gawker.com. I still believe in the principles of "is it true and is it interesting" and standing up to outdated ideals. Gawker may soon be a thing of the past, but hopefully we can preserve some of what it introduced to the world.

Rest in peace, you snarky sons of bitches.