What Does Everyone Really Think of ‘Gawker’?

Be honest now. What do you really think? Is it salacious, scandalous, and downright dirty? Is it brilliant, entertaining, and a true expression of democracy? Do you even care?

Gawker is the ogre to traditional media’s pitchforks, but we all know Shrek got Fiona.

Its coverage is often exactly what we want to see, weather it’s a headline that stretches to 10+ words and has you hooked on the sheer rebeliousness of that fact, or whether it’s that they post up the best four-to-five minutes of every Daily Show, every day.

To those in print, TV, or radio (I guess, radio?), Gawker is the black swan in a family that increasingly wants to ignore the youngest son’s passion for blood rock and goth gear while they ponder over their other offspring’s future in law school.

To David Carr – media columnist at the New York Times – it’s vile. “I think that kind of journalism is disgusting,” he says in the above video from MSNBC’s Rock Center.

Of course, Carr is beautiful in that way, because he admits how much he enjoys it, while comparing it to Grade 9 mean girls. It’s like he’s a Patrick Roy fan. “Yea, he’s a dick… but, boy, can he play goal!”

That said, isn’t the New York Times in the same business? Don’t they troll and follow celebrities, or is it different because they own more thesauruses?

Didn’t they have a Tweet today asking if anyone had seen the Drake v. Chris Brown spat and, if they had, to message them on Facebook?

So, did that not count, or will they just say they were chasing the day’s most popular headline? And, if they were just doing that, than how is it different than Gawker?

Take for instance, the Brian Williams… instance. You know, BWillsy emailed Nick Denton – head of Gawker – to ask him why Gawker hadn’t ripped Lana Del Rey apart for her SNL musical showing in January, and Denton published it. Obviously, MSNBC confronted Denton about that in their story for Rock Center, and he admitted he “messed up.” Apologize, no, but mess up… yes.

When’s the last time you heard your Daily Bugle admit that? And, if Gawker is so evil and so unforgiving and so Hell-bent on the world’s destruction, why would they really confess?

Hey, it took Michael Corleone, like, 30 years to confess to God that he killed Fredo, and God would have already known, wouldn’t he?

After all, tabloids have been around longer than hard news has been around. Did you know that, or did you casually and conveniently not notice that Joseph Pulitzer – yes, the man whose namesake hono(u)rs the world’s best, most diligent, ethical and most sophisticated writers – started the trend of sensational reporting once known as Yellow Journalism.

Yellow because it was cowardly, or yellow because it’s the equivalent of snow piss? Either way, it’s Pulitzer, and the New York Times lauds itself with compliments every time it receives one. And, they call it a “Pulitzer,” not a “P***tzer.”

(*It’s nice to win the Home Run Derby when you’re the only guy with a bat, isn’t it?)

So, is the only reason for Gawker’s hate-on simply the fact that it’s beating said ancient and archived institutions?

Folks will complain that Gawker and The Huffington Post and even Grantland (but, ssshhhh! That’s ESPN!) are simply aggregating content for their own gluttonous benefit, or that they don’t deserve a place in the Hallowed Hall of Media Fame, even if that’s a self-created, esoteric (and made-up) building/concept.

That said, aren’t all newspapers and TV stations really the same thing, when you boil it down to the broth and the basics?

I mean, what are the Canadian Press, the Associated Press, and Reuters for then? Sure, the NY Times will do their own original reporting and they’ll create recipes in their own kitchen, but they’ll jumble it together in the stew with carrots, peas, and potatoes that they bought at Safeway, won’t they?

Let’s be real. It’s only wrong if you don’t like it, isn’t it?