You sure you're okay with billionaires controlling the media? You really sure about that? We saw what almost happened with Mother Jones. A Las Vegas newspaper was heavily critical of Sheldon Aldelson, so he just bought the paper.
You're fine with this?
You're OK with yellow journalism? Because that's what Gawker is/was.
We're talking about an outlet that violated pretty much every single line in the SPJ code of ethics.
When it outed an exec at a rival publisher (itself a clear CoE violation), and got called to the mat for it, editors across the company banded together to support outing the guy and used it as a rallying cry to form a union.
This isn't big money going after a poor, defenseless news outlet that only seeks the truth.
This is a company that thrived on yellow journalism and tabloid reporting that finally crossed one too many lines and got caught up in its own muck.
As a journalist, I have zero sympathy for Gawker here.
So thank God they did it to a billionaire as nobody else was able to stop them, with even most of their editors being completely tone deaf when their own legal department tried to stop them from outing people.
People love to push the "a billionaire ruined Gawker, that's not okay!" narrative but the truth is, Peter Thiel simply funded a lawsuit. His actions didn't ruin Gawker. Gawker's actions ruined Gawker.
This isn't a case of a billionaire using his wealth for corrupt means to bury a media organization. This is a case where a billionaire was the only one with the means to actually fight back.
A billionaire didn't just do this to an INNOCENT Gawker. Gawker did shitty things. Gawker continued to do shitty things. Gawker knowingly did this and continued to do this because they knew lawsuits were EXPENSIVE even for celebrities, and the most they'd likely suffer was a cash settlement.
The wrong here is that it takes absolutely enormous amounts of money to effectively use the court system. THAT IS WRONG. Not that a Billionaire was able to use the court system effectively. Even the poorest of the poor should be able to have their day in court against a large corporation.
The fact that people think large corporations should be able to use their vast wealth to shield them from court, to the point that only Billionaires have a shot at using the court is just absolutely crazy IMO.
If Gawker didn't do this shitty thing there would have been no court case for Hogan. PERIOD. So Billionaire or not it wouldn't have mattered.
All of these things are true.
Can anyone explain how a 42yr old former editor in chief of gawker only has to his name:
- $1500 in savings
- a handful of worthless stocks
- $40k in college debt
- no car
- no house
- no retirement funds
Wtf has he been doing all this time? I think the typical 25yr old GAFer has more assets than this guy.
Most likely hiding assets. He was very likely earning more than $100k as EIC. The only way you have nothing to show for that is if you are hiding it, or if you are a compulsive gambler. He may be very self-centered, but he's not an idiot. Hubris, not stupidity, brought him down.