Gawker Stalker: Charting the Site’s Media Takeover – Vanity Fair

Launched in 2002, Manhattan-obsessed Gawker became the flagship of a sprawling digital media empire promising blunt takes and inside dope on everything from tech to politics, sports to video games. Though killed off by a Peter Thiel-funded lawsuit over publication of a sex tape starring Hulk Hogan, Gawker’s influence, and that of hell-raising siblings like Deadspin, Jezebel, and Gizmodo, is evident by turning on HBO or opening the New York Times. As a new owner tries reviving the Gawker brand, here’s how its tentacles have spread throughout media and entertainment.

Since selling his gossip empire to Univision, the enigmatic Gawker Media chief—whose SoHo loft was once a mildly debauched media party zone—has cultivated an air of mystery around a possible next act, hinting on Twitter about a future “story-making app.”

His chatty and biting style set the tone for early Gawker (and much of the internet). After cofounding The Awl, where he cultivated a new generation of wryly observant internet writers, he went legit, reshaping the New York Times Style section before returning to writing at New York magazine.

Choosing an education at Gawker over Columbia Journalism School, the early era editor in chief—and later top Jezebel editor—went on to lead newsrooms at Vocativ and Mashable before joining newsletter juggernaut Morning Brew as chief content officer.

Starting at Awl sister site The Hairpin and later becoming a Jezebel deputy editor, Tolentino gained a following for sharp-witted cultural commentary. Now a New Yorker staff writer, her essay collection, Trick Mirror, racked up critics’ raves.

From joining a Paula Deen cruise to gorging at T.G.I. Fridays, the Gawker writer took stunt journalism to sublime new heights. Her talents earned her a gig writing cover stories for GQ before the NYT Styles desk and magazine scooped her up.

One of Gawker’s longest-serving writers, Nolan chronicled the media business—and, by organizing the site’s staff, helped set off a wave of unionization across the industry. Nolan now covers labor for In These Times.

Getting tailed by Roger Ailes didn’t stop Cook from probing Fox News and other power centers for Gawker—a path he’s continued as investigations editor at Insider, working alongside deputy (and ex-Gawker/Gizmodo reporter) J.K. Trotter.

Even Denton bristled at the former feature editor’s scathing posts. Now Finnegan is leading a relaunched Gawker under new owner (and past Jezebel and Valleywag target) Bryan Goldberg, whom she’s already mocked to the press.

Tackling everything at Deadspin from Taylor Swift feminism to the real estate delusions of NYC-based rom-coms, the former senior editor became Spin’s top editor before joining the Condé Nast stable as editor in chief of indie mainstay Pitchfork.

A renowned Gawker and Deadspin editor, Scocca also wrote on allegations against Bill Cosby (when nearly no one else was) and argued for snark over smarm. He launched Hmm Daily before becoming Slate’s politics editor.

Beginning his Gawker writing career as anonymous commenter LolCait, Lawson jumped from ad sales to editorial and became one of the site’s most popular contributors, chronicling contemporary celebrity culture with absurdist flair. And now he’s with us, as Vanity Fair’s chief critic.

Gawker’s founding editor in chief went on to helm the New York Observer under then owner Jared Kushner, whose incompetence—as a media owner and White House adviser—she’s quick to point out. Spiers now heads progressive digital strategy company The Insurrection and teaches media and innovation at NYU.

From gracing the cover of the New York Times Magazine to debating Jimmy Kimmel, Gould moved beyond just internet famous. The original “confessional blogger,” who is also half of an aughts media-world couple (she’s married to n+1 founder Keith Gessen), is the author of the novels Perfect Tunes and Friendship—and wrote a column in this issue!

A distinctive Jezebel voice in the early years, Stewart led Splinter, a site carrying on the Gawker flame until shuttering itself in 2019. The native New Yorker jumped to the Times as deputy metro editor and now deputy editor for Narrative Projects.

Dropping out of NYU to write for D.C.-skewering Wonkette—and serving as Gawker’s editor in chief nearly a decade later—the epically acidic Pareene now serves up incisive political analysis as a staff writer at the New Republic.

After covering the dearth of cool Black characters in video games and the necessity of Black Panther for Kotaku, Narcisse went on to write the Rise of the Black Panther series and Spider Man: Miles Morales game.

Having explored race, culture, and celebrity as a senior writer at Jezebel, Brown is now making her mark on the TV world, writing for Grown-ish, In the Dark, and forthcoming Marvel series She-Hulk.

After igniting a Brett Favre sexting scandal at Deadspin, he posted the Hulk Hogan sex tape that sunk Gawker in court. The notoriously hard-partying Daulerio has since shifted gears, founding recovery newsletter the Small Bow.

Taking home an Emmy last year (with Damon Lindelof), the former West Coast editor has written for Watchmen, Succession, and—with former editor in chief Max Read—conceived a Gawker-inspired scripted show called Scraper.

At Gawker, he took on 4chan trolls and chronicled Goatse—maybe don’t look that up—before exploring internet culture for The New Yorker as a staff writer. He’s since left the magazine and is now working on a book.

After playing key roles throughout Gawker Media—Jezebel editor in chief, managing editor of Gawker and Deadspin—Carmichael has written for Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas and, along with alum Leah Beckmann, was also working on Scraper before Apple pulled the plug.

Dropping gossip bombs on tech titans—such as “outing” Peter Thiel—Thomas put the industry on edge as Valleywag managing editor and has kept it in his sights while serving as an editor at Business Insider, the San Francisco Chronicle, and now Protocol.

As the founding editor in chief of Jezebel, she reinvented our idea of blogging. After three years at the helm, she held high-ranking editorial roles at Fusion and Topic.com and now helps steer the Obamas’ empire as EVP/creative director at Higher Ground Productions.

— How the U.S. Abandoned Women in Afghanistan
— Billionaire Leon Black Flew a Russian Model to Meet Jeffrey Epstein
— Inside the Fury and Fantasy of Donald Trump’s Florida
— How Rudy Giuliani Went From 9/11’s Hallowed Mayor to 2021’s Haunted Ghoul
— How One New Jersey Town Became a Magnet for the Media Elite
— Is Ron DeSantis’s Fox News Obsession Backfiring on Florida?
— Congress Will Soon Get Its Hands on Possible Evidence of Trump’s Many Alleged Crimes
— How the “Ground Zero Mosque” Meltdown Set the Table for Trump
— From the Archive: Into the Valley of Death
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.