4 ms·

Messed up lawsuit and I actually don't know what to think. 1) Gawker was garbage dwelling story makers. I am glad they aren't going to do stories anymore. 2)

by baldfat 10y ago

Messed up lawsuit and I actually don't know what to think. 1) Gawker was garbage dwelling story makers. I am glad they aren't going to do stories anymore. 2) Who will it be the next time something happens like this will it be a actual journalist and good content producer that gets sued to death? Scared for journalist???? Also would be nice to see LifeHacker survive this.

stcredzero 10y ago
Also would be nice to see LifeHacker survive this. Hopefully the market niche of LifeHacker will be polyfilled quickly. Also hopefully, the market niche of most of the rest of Gawker won't.
- jonah 10y ago
  Jalopnik is a pretty good car site too. Good community and more than just regurgitated press release car reviews. Hopefully it finds a new home without too much blood loss.
  - RandomBacon 10y ago
    I like Lifehacker and Jalopnik (except for their political posts). I used to like Gizmodo years ago, but they got too political for my taste back then. It would be nice to see Lifehacker and Jalopnik survive. I also like The Consumerist, but it was sold off to Consumer Reports and was doing okay until it was hacked. Now it's only a shell of its former self. What really made that site was the user contributions, but that died off after they closed the comments after the attack.
MicroBerto 10y ago
At this point, I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is. Good prevailing over evil. Enjoy the wins when they're around. You can never predict the future too well anyway.
toss1941 10y ago
If they had just reported on Hogan's affair without actually releasing the video, would they still have gotten sued?
fullshark 10y ago
Well the hope is that the courts wouldn't rule against an actual journalist for doing his/her job in a lawsuit. I get the "slippery slope" argument but posting a video of Hulk Hogan having sex (taken and posted without his consent) doesn't really qualify as journalism in any way and they really deserved to lose.
- baldfat 10y ago
  But they weren't the only ones and I don't think they were even the first ones to do so. (At work no way I am researching if I am right) I HATE GAWKER but it does seem strange that no one else was sued for this.
  - scruple 10y ago
    They defied a court order to remove the tape.
    - mikeyouse 10y ago
      The 2nd Circuit Appeals Court stayed the order: Gawker appealed the injunction, and Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal issued an immediate stay, which prevented the injunction from going into effect. Eight months later, the appeals court issued a scathing opinion that overturned Campbell’s order on the grounds that the video was newsworthy and Gawker's publication of it was protected by the First Amendment. Armed with the appeals court decision, Gawker went back to Campbell and asked her to dismiss the case, since the appeals court had just ruled that publishing the video was protected by the First Amendment. Campbell refused. http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/03/jury-awards-hulk-hogan-115-million-as-gawker-looks-to-appeal-004433 http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/03/jury-awards-hulk...
- untog 10y ago
  The court doesn't even have to rule against the journalist for the legal costs to destroy a media organisation. By example, this exact thing happened to Mother Jones: http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/10/billionaire-sued-us-we-won-we-still-have-big-legal-bills-pay http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/10/billionaire-sued...
SixSigma 10y ago
It wasn't "posted video ... sued out of existence"
scosman 10y ago
I don't understand #2 (and I've heard it a lot). Theil with all his money was unable to sue/destroy them for a decade even with their despicable behaviour. It wasn't until they did something illegal (the Hogan case) that they went down. Is there really risk for journalists who don't break privacy laws?
kryptiskt 10y ago
1) Why do you think that Gawker will shut down? Someone will buy it at the auction and they have all reasons to continue to publish, maybe with better legal advice. It's still a valuable media property.
splouk 10y ago
This wouldn't happen to a good journalist because a good journalist wouldn't publish a stolen sex tape.
- xentronium 10y ago
  First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

by baldfat 10y ago

stcredzero 10y ago

Also would be nice to see LifeHacker survive this. Hopefully the market niche of LifeHacker will be polyfilled quickly. Also hopefully, the market niche of most of the rest of Gawker won't.

jonah 10y ago
Jalopnik is a pretty good car site too. Good community and more than just regurgitated press release car reviews. Hopefully it finds a new home without too much blood loss.
- RandomBacon 10y ago
  I like Lifehacker and Jalopnik (except for their political posts). I used to like Gizmodo years ago, but they got too political for my taste back then. It would be nice to see Lifehacker and Jalopnik survive. I also like The Consumerist, but it was sold off to Consumer Reports and was doing okay until it was hacked. Now it's only a shell of its former self. What really made that site was the user contributions, but that died off after they closed the comments after the attack.

MicroBerto 10y ago

At this point, I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is. Good prevailing over evil. Enjoy the wins when they're around. You can never predict the future too well anyway.

toss1941 10y ago

If they had just reported on Hogan's affair without actually releasing the video, would they still have gotten sued?

fullshark 10y ago

Well the hope is that the courts wouldn't rule against an actual journalist for doing his/her job in a lawsuit. I get the "slippery slope" argument but posting a video of Hulk Hogan having sex (taken and posted without his consent) doesn't really qualify as journalism in any way and they really deserved to lose.

baldfat 10y ago
But they weren't the only ones and I don't think they were even the first ones to do so. (At work no way I am researching if I am right) I HATE GAWKER but it does seem strange that no one else was sued for this.
- scruple 10y ago
  They defied a court order to remove the tape.
  - mikeyouse 10y ago
    The 2nd Circuit Appeals Court stayed the order: Gawker appealed the injunction, and Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal issued an immediate stay, which prevented the injunction from going into effect. Eight months later, the appeals court issued a scathing opinion that overturned Campbell’s order on the grounds that the video was newsworthy and Gawker's publication of it was protected by the First Amendment. Armed with the appeals court decision, Gawker went back to Campbell and asked her to dismiss the case, since the appeals court had just ruled that publishing the video was protected by the First Amendment. Campbell refused. http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/03/jury-awards-hulk-hogan-115-million-as-gawker-looks-to-appeal-004433 http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/03/jury-awards-hulk...
untog 10y ago
The court doesn't even have to rule against the journalist for the legal costs to destroy a media organisation. By example, this exact thing happened to Mother Jones: http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/10/billionaire-sued-us-we-won-we-still-have-big-legal-bills-pay http://m.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/10/billionaire-sued...

SixSigma 10y ago

It wasn't "posted video ... sued out of existence"

scosman 10y ago

I don't understand #2 (and I've heard it a lot). Theil with all his money was unable to sue/destroy them for a decade even with their despicable behaviour. It wasn't until they did something illegal (the Hogan case) that they went down. Is there really risk for journalists who don't break privacy laws?

kryptiskt 10y ago

1) Why do you think that Gawker will shut down? Someone will buy it at the auction and they have all reasons to continue to publish, maybe with better legal advice. It's still a valuable media property.

splouk 10y ago

This wouldn't happen to a good journalist because a good journalist wouldn't publish a stolen sex tape.

xentronium 10y ago
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.