In a memo to Gawker staff, Cook wrote that Univision executives told him that they decided to remove the posts for legal reasons. "At this time of transition, the decision was based on a desire to have a clean slate as we look to support and grow the editorial missions of the acquired brands." "Following our acquisition of assets from Gawker Media, we have decided to take down select articles that are the subject of pending litigation against the prior owners," Univision told POLITICO in a statement. (Under Gawker's union contract, a majority vote of the CEO, general counsel and executive editor are required to remove posts.) Trotter reported that two Univision executives - Fusion Media Group COO Felipe Holguin, who is serving as Gawker's interim CEO, and general counsel Jay Grant, who is serving as Gawker's interim general counsel - voted to remove the posts, while Gawker executive editor John Cook voted to keep the posts online. Several posts on - Gawker Media's now-shuttered flagship site, which Univision chose not to acquire - are also the subject of ongoing lawsuits, but since Univision does not own, none of those posts were removed. The site’s demise could reignite the debate about press freedom and whether anyone with an agenda and deep enough pockets should be able to sink a news organization.All six of the deleted posts have now been replaced with a brief note to readers: "This story is no longer available as it is the subject of pending litigation against the prior owners of this site." “Since cruelty and recklessness were intrinsic parts of Gawker’s business model, it seemed only a matter of time before they would try to pretend that journalism justified the very worst,” Thiel wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times published this week. The shuttering of represents a victory for Thiel, whose fight with the company began in 2007, when Valleywag, one of Gawker Media’s now-defunct blogs, published an article saying he was gay. He said that no layoffs were planned in connection with the shutdown, and that journalists had been assured they would be offered jobs elsewhere at the company. “I think that people are going to find that they miss Gawker, even the people who hated Gawker,” said Hamilton Nolan, a writer who has worked there for eight years. The article drew widespread condemnation online. Last summer, the site published and quickly removed an article about a married male media executive who sought to hire a gay escort. Denton often said that if something was interesting, it was news.īut the site also attracted criticism for publishing articles that detractors said were in bad taste. Its articles could be at turns witty and caustic, humorous and weighty. , perhaps more than any other site, reflected an attempt to change that. The site was considered by many in media as an incubator of talent, and its writers have gone on to work at places like The New Yorker and New York magazine.ĭenton, a former financial journalist, was known for saying that journalists shared the most interesting stories not in their articles but with each other at the bar after work. The company’s portfolio of sites also includes the technology site Gizmodo, the sports site Deadspin, and the women-oriented site Jezebel.įounded nearly 14 years ago as one of the first two blogs of what would become Gawker Media, initially covered news and gossip about New York media and society. It was not clear when Univision won the auction whether it intended to continue operating. Peter Thiel, the billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur, acknowledged after the Hogan trial that he had funded the lawsuit and was providing financial support for other legal cases against the company.
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