Gawker Media shows different side to reporting
The Media Living Learning Center students visited New York City on a networking and experience trip over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, Jan. 16-19. During the trip, they met with alumni and toured the offices of New York’s famous media sites.
By Maddie Stevens
We visited Gawker Media, a blogging company with an eight-site network. Gawker, the infamous celebrity blog, is one of the most popularly read blogs for the company. Gawker also serves as a parent to seven other diverse weblogs, including Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, io9, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Jezebel. For example, while Gawker keeps up with all the celebrity gossip, Kotaku is a video game focused blog, Jalopnik is a blog about cars and Jezebel is a blog about women’s issues.
Members of the Media LLC traveled to Gawker’s offices in New York and spoke to some of the editors of the different blogs. Tommy Craggs, executive editor of Gawker Media, spoke to us and gave us a word of advice about the company.
“Our blogging pages are meant to be the story behind the real story,” Craggs said. In other words, Gawker searches for what readers want to know about a story rather than the facts the news is telling online and on television.
“Gawker is looking for people who are comfortable with themselves and are not afraid to speak plainly about things, because that is what Gawker’s blog is all about,” Craggs said.
The nature of journalism is very different when it is focused through a blog. Max Read, the editor-in-chief of Gawker, explained that Gawker’s is much different from other newsrooms.
“We try to get away with blogging everything that we can,” said Read. “That is what is great about our company.”
Gawker gives employees more freedom compared to other newsrooms by allowing them to write more about how different issues are addressed and stories are covered. By presenting stories in its own way, Gawker continues to grow, and Max Read and Tommy Craggs both hope to see Gawker continue to expand in years to come.
Read more student reports from the Media LLC’s experiences in New York.