https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...or-a-year-weve-never-needed-it-more-than-now/
More at the link. I know Gawker shutting down was a hot topic on this board, so I figured this article could create some good discussion.
Now that Gawkers buried, we might consider what we lost when that mischievous and irresponsible purveyor of gossip was shuttered. Gawker was not simply an influential Web outlet; its proudly independent sensibility and critical autonomy remain rare in todays corporate media sphere. But to consider Gawker simply a minnow in a sea of whales is to miss its true value. Gawker might have been foolhardy, reckless and ultimately self-destructive, but it was also, above all, courageous. With the hindsight of Donald Trumps ascendancy to the presidency, we should all recognize that courage in the media is needed now more than ever.
But to place Gawker only in the context of the Web era is to miss its historical significance. Like PM (New Yorks experimental newspaper in the 1940s), or the Berkeley Barb and other alternative press outlets in the 1960s, Gawker began as a crusade to save journalism. Like its alternative predecessors, Gawker challenged the processed wire copy and objective norms of standardized news content with pieces that could be opinionated, sensationalistic, and occasionally bizarre. Readers would be lured in with narcissistic displays, participatory journalism, and styles of address that could range from the nihilistic to the euphoric. Theres a reason it was named Gawker.
To have successfully developed a sensibility thats simultaneously attractive and annoying may be Gawkers ultimate legacy. It was a brave but foolhardy attempt to force a new kind of media freedom on an unprepared world. For all its childish snark, Gawker was run by people who understood that authorities in the media, politics, and culture too often fail to keep the publics best interests in mind. Though Gawker is gone, the fact remains that the powerful still dont have the publics best interests at heart. But the courage required to point this out in an amusing, satirical, and pointed manner is in shorter and shorter supply. For instance, a recent story about the allegedly cultlike and possibly abusive lifestyle of rapper R. Kelly that appeared in BuzzFeed almost never ran, thanks to outlets fear of a Thiel-type response. Its impossible to know how many similarly important stories will never see the light of day for that very reason.
More at the link. I know Gawker shutting down was a hot topic on this board, so I figured this article could create some good discussion.