I like Gawker, especially Jezebel and io9. I certainly “trust” the Gawker bloggers as much as I do those at serious-journalism old-media sites like the NYTimes and WaPo (from which, of course, the Gawker empire steals repurposes some of its best material) and rather more than I would stuff from Politico or Huffingtonpost. But there are, I think, two mutually conflicting impulses that drive all reporters: the desire to share cool new information (which is essentially empathetic), and the urge to demonstrate that one has more & better information than everyone else (which is about asserting control). Nick Denton, Gawker Emperor, seems to have achieved his success by taking the grassroots blogging-impulse — Look what I found, everybody! — and monetized it for hipsters-by-association — Look how cool we are that we know better than to be impressed by this, which *you* probably haven’t even heard about yet. Something about the sociopathic purity of Denton’s refusal to acknowledge the communal impulses of what could be called journalism’s better nature can drive other (“real”) journalists slightly crazy:
Gawker is one of those things which, like neighborhoods, are never as good as when you first discovered them. What it is selling, essentially, is a pose of knowing, cool detachment. Very little of what Denton publishes qualifies as gossip in the traditional sense. It’s a sensibility. As the audience for that sensibility grows, and as the individual voices evolve to suit the expanded reach, the early movers and élites naturally feel some sting of betrayal. But Denton is, above all, a realist, with little patience for nostalgia. He’s the hipster who turns, unapologetically, into a developer.
__
In the spring semester of 2002, Denton helped an old source from Budapest teach a class at the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. The course, which Denton now describes as “a great example of contrasting journalistic approaches,” was called “Freedom of the Press: Political Change and the Media in Hungary.” Denton was at the time the chairman of a company called Moreover Technologies, an early news aggregator. His co-teacher, Peter Molnar, was a former member of the Hungarian parliament who had drifted away from politics and into academia as the progressive youth movement that he had founded got co-opted by populist right-wing elements. “I was brought in to provide a bit of ‘Here’s how it works in the real world,’ ” Denton said. “So he would talk in class about the plight of the Gypsy minority, and then I would say, ‘Yeah, except no one’s going to actually commission that piece, so, to the extent that you actually want to make a career out of journalism, which I assume you do, you’d do well to find topics of more interest to your audience.’ ” The course involved a weeklong field trip to Hungary. Molnar wanted the students to investigate human-rights issues relating to free speech; Denton encouraged travel-section features about spa culture. “He got quite acrimonious,” Denton said.
__
The more Denton recalled his Berkeley experience, the more it seemed that he viewed Molnar’s academic piety as an extension of his ultimate failure to gain political traction in Hungary—responsibility as a cover for weakness, and a reluctance to grapple with humans’ true appetites and desires. “People who are as inflexibly idealistic as that never pull it off,” Denton said. “They never succeed. And you don’t need to indoctrinate a whole other generation of people to lead frustrated lives.” As for Molnar, “I find him hugely annoying,” Denton said. “I don’t see what the point is unless you succeed at what you’re doing. I don’t have a huge amount of time for noble failure.”
__
For Molnar, who is now a senior research fellow at Central European University, the experience still smarts, eight years on. His interpretation of the root of the conflict differs from Denton’s. His politics did not suffer from excessive idealism; they were undermined by the “false realism” of cynics who refuse to draw a meaningful line in the sand. “I don’t want to say negative things about Nick,” Molnar said, sounding less frustrated than nervous. “I don’t like to say negative things about people in general.”
Which inspired Tom Scocca’s Esquire post “Nick Denton is in the New Yorker“:
It has to do with motivation. Denton says things about his motivation, and they almost sound as if they are describing his motivations, but at heart he seems completely alien to most writers and editors. It is as if everyone is telling the story of a famous restauranteur, when unknown to everyone—unknown even to himself—he suffers from undiagnosed anosmia…
__
Denton the hypothetical restauranteur talks quite sincerely about crispness and juiciness and saltiness, in a way that makes them sound like shared and complete food values. But he can’t taste flavors! He is wealthy and successful in the food business, and people are lining up for his restaurants, but if you ask him, “What is the best appetizer here?” the answer is, “The critics gave us really helpful notices on the crab fritters, which was good for publicity, but the blooming onion alone accounts for 70 percent of revenue.”
__
Then you ask, “What is really flavorful?” and the answer is, “The old chefs always complained about the blooming onion, because they think they’re much better than the customer, and I don’t like blooming onions myself, but the new chefs understand it much better.”
__
Other, older kinds of restaurants are failing. It is Denton and his new chefs who will remake the restaurant business. Everyone agrees on this point.
__
And then Denton says, “I have always loved restaurants.”
FlipYrWhig
I was just saying a couple threads down that this is entirely the attitude _towards Obama_ around the hotspots of the liberal blogosphere. Only instead of “impressed” it’s “disappointed.” “We were disappointed before anyone else, and in fact we’re already disappointed in some hardcore shit you don’t even know about, or at least we _would_ be disappointed if we retained the capacity to be disappointed in him, which we don’t, because we gave up long ago. Pfft.”
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig: I was disappointed by your argument as soon as you posted it.
freelancer
Most favorite recent Gawker story: personal hero and long time standup Marc Maron of WTF podcast gets upgraded to First Class, ends up sitting next to Ken Mehlman. Hilarity ensues when Gawker picks up on the story via Maron’s Twitter feed before the flight is over.
FlipYrWhig
@Omnes Omnibus: Ooh, very meta. Like Charlie Kaufman. Seen it. Pfft. ;D
DPirate
Why not just write “I agree with these two guy:”?
Douglas
The more Denton recalled his Berkeley experience, the more it seemed that he viewed Molnar’s academic piety as an extension of his ultimate failure to gain political traction in Hungary—responsibility as a cover for weakness, and a reluctance to grapple with humans’ true appetites and desires. “People who are as inflexibly idealistic as that never pull it off,” Denton said. “They never succeed. And you don’t need to indoctrinate a whole other generation of people to lead frustrated lives.” As for Molnar, “I find him hugely annoying,” Denton said. “I don’t see what the point is unless you succeed at what you’re doing. I don’t have a huge amount of time for noble failure.”
arguingwithsignposts
Nick Denton should have the first letters of his names reversed. He’s only a couple of steps down from Ms. Huffington in terms of new media grifters.
General Stuck
The Thin Blue Line of Disappointment
or, what do they call it when the disappointed accuse the disappointed?
Keith G
@freelancer: Great Maron has a good time making fun of the homo next to him.
Fan-fucking-tastic. Is there any other context where that would be considered funny? Make fun of the Black guy? Make fun of the Jew?
No! But Maron can sit next to a queer and crack about sucking cocks. Fuuuuuun.
And ya know what? I do not even like Mehlman one bit.
edt sorry, he said being part of the cock that fucked the country.
Omnes Omnibus
@FlipYrWhig: I would be disappointed by that if I cared.
SectarianSofa
Gawker stuff annoys me. I’d rather be annoyed by Sullivan. At least Sullivan has changed over the years. Gawker is like Fin de siècle California as discovered by new New Yorkers from the upper midwest .
freelancer
@Keith G:
Maybe he did it, as he says in his own words, because here’s a guy, who while in the closet, was one of the few who was instrumental in GWB’s 2004 anti-gay platform as a path to re-election. Mehlman is a sick hypocrite, and a comedian was fucking with him for that reason.
Making fun of Larry Craig and Ted Haggard is super homophobic as well, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Lighten up, Francis.
Keith G
@Keith G:
Sorry, I couldn’t edit a mis-statement.
Maron said, “I wonder if he dreams about being part of the cock….”
My bad.
Anne Laurie
@DPirate: Because I want y’all to go look at these cool stories I found!
Keith G
@freelancer:
Oh yeah, Mehlman is a worthless piece of garbage. He really is.
But it does no good for a lot of people to attack him on the stereotype. Doing that just helps to reinforce the same biases that this pig helped to use to the GOP’s advantage.
Francis?
beergoggles
I like the lifehacker and gizmodo sites. I didn’t go full on gawker unless some other news source on my RSS feed links to it.
In Obama DOJ news, Obama DOJ declines to appeal a court loss, but it isn’t DADT.
arguingwithsignposts
@beergoggles:
Wow, non-sequitur outrage is spaceship 9.
beergoggles
Oh yeah, and fuck Mehlman.. with a pineapple.. sideways..
+3
fucen tarmal
i’m not as much a fan of the rest of the gawker universe, but when the unbearable sincerity of sportswriters who whine about how they aren’t being taken seriously as journomedia, then are the first to punt anytime real world issues invade sportsmedia heaven gets too much, the affected cynicism of deadspin can be a nice antidote.
that said, it is a spice, not the entree….ironically(sic) you go to gawker, after you have heard about whatever it is they are fluffing, elsewhere.
jeff
I read the entire article about Denton a couple of days ago. I felt kind-of depressed for a full day. The news (to me) that a privileged and intelligent person has expended that much energy and the attention of so many people on what amounts to “look-it!” just saddens the hell out of me. I had a roommate a hundred years ago that pulled outrageous stunts trying to get Denton to hire her. I think he did, too. Sad, sad stuff. He is probably the most serious loser in history, and the person least acquainted with the concept of “cool” I’ve ever read about.
tomvox1
Maybe it’s the wine, Anne, but this whole post made my eyes glaze over. The New Yorker piece is so onanistic I feel like I need some Purel (“Do you dare to look behind the blogger curtain? Loooook what he’s doing to the new media business paradigm! Gasp. The Horror…”). And the fact that Scocca felt the need to critique the fucking thing is simply the ultimate lament for our completely lamely prioritized, navel-gazing, perpetual high school era. in 10-15 years (sooner maybe?), no one is going to know that Nick Denton ever walked the earth. I mean, even now: Who really gives a shit? Do you, Anne, really give a shit?
Please spare us this inside baseball/circle jerk ephemera. You’re better than this.
Now have a glass on me.
Omnes Omnibus
@beergoggles: They did appeal it from district court to circuit court. They aren’t appealing any further. The DADT decision was a district court decision. Your angry analogy fails.
dan
@tomvox1: Yes. Exactly that.
PeakVT
Doesn’t a post about Denton deserve the “assholes” tag?
beergoggles
@Omnes Omnibus: You really think DADT would stop at the circuit level if the DOJ loses?
And I don’t need no stupid analogy to be angry ;)
Martin
Denton should keep having his guys steal shit. They really rake in the pageviews when they commit crimes.
I don’t think he learned that at Berkeley, though.
Omnes Omnibus
@beergoggles: I think the Defense bill with DADT repeal will pass before the appeal happens, and, as a result, the appeal will be dismissed as moot.
parsimon
I’m afraid I can’t stand Gawker or Jezebel, and don’t understand the point of this post. Sorry, Anne Laurie. Carry on.
beergoggles
@Omnes Omnibus: Not necessarily since the ‘repeal’ language doesn’t prevent anyone from being kicked out, it just punts the handling of it back to the executive where it originally was before DADT passed.
Steeplejack
Having a hard time following this inside-baseball blogging meta-narrative when the Yankees are getting well and truly spanked by the Rangers. FTFY!
pointer
That Denton is a jerk doesn’t make this any less unsettlingly close to the mark:
“People who are as inflexibly idealistic as that never pull it off,” Denton said. “They never succeed. And you don’t need to indoctrinate a whole other generation of people to lead frustrated lives.”
Omnes Omnibus
@beergoggles: You see the result of the lawsuit as superior to legislative repeal of DADT?
gbear
I Don’t Care
jeff
@pointer:
But those whom he sees as “frustrated” are probably quite alright, you know? He’s the one that can’t get over the bizarre “success/failure” standard–one which, I’m certain, is unique to him and a few other famechashers.
What a fucking loser. Worse, he wants to bring everything to his sick level. It sounds like you’re buying it, but why?
beergoggles
@Omnes Omnibus: I see them as identical because legislative repeal does not carry any language that instructs the military to treat gays equally. It just repeals the law, which puts us right where judicial nullification does.
+4
John Bird
Every time I read about Nick Denton, all I can think is, this guy is for the rest of them. He’s not for me. And there’s plenty of them, I guess, the people who want to know about the spas in Hungary.
Omnes Omnibus
@beergoggles: I may have read the repeal language incorrectly, but I understood that the full effect would be the elimination of the ban on gays serving.
John Bird
@tomvox1:
Actually, Scocca has a lot to do with Denton and the Gawker circle from way back, and has very strong opinions regarding Gawker and Denton’s effect on paid journalism. It’s not like he’s just writing this out of the blue – his readers would expect him to bring up the story and comment on it.
MikeJ
@beergoggles: Actually, no. The result of the current lawsuit doesn’t call for treating gays equally, it says you can’t enforce DADT. If the judge’s ruling were to stand, congress could pass a law that was equally onerous, or even worse, and it would be the law until it was overturned.
beergoggles
@Omnes Omnibus: @MikeJ:
Sorry if I am not making much sense, but I never claimed current judicial nullification or the legislative language in the defense authorization bill would force the military to treat gays equally. They are identical in the sense that they place the onus of implementing any particular policy as long as it isn’t DADT on the executive. So the executive could theoretically implement an even more onerous policy against gays or just completely segregate them and then it’ll be another court case..
The only difference between the two is that judicial nullification goes into effect immediately and legislative repeal hasn’t happened.
tomvox1
@John Bird:
Actually, the fact that I have never heard of Scocca until today nor read his blog nor give a shit what his readers expect of him vis a vis Denton rather proves my original point, I feel. It is a race to see who will be forgotten sooner from the Golden Age of Original Blogging When it Almost Started to Make Money or whatever. YMMV.
Elia
Amazed that people are scolding Anne for burdening them with this post.
If you don’t care, then just move on. I mean, my God, I can’t really think of a scenario in which little is asked of you and even less is owed.
FlipYrWhig
@beergoggles: My feeling is that legislative repeal will feel much more “real,” and of course the ideal situation is that the legislature does its business, the military does its, the courts do theirs, and they all converge so that DADT goes away entirely. Whereas the not-appealing-the-court-ruling strategy is, I dunno, unsatisfying. It’s like you’ve got a winning p0ker hand but instead of taking the table for all it’s worth you’re just letting everyone fold. I want this shit to get unambiguously thrown out with buy-in from every interested party, so that it’s DONE, and the fields where it came from are fuckin’ SALTED so it can’t come back.
(And on HCR, energy/climate, and all that, yes, I was inclined to take the best deal and walk away. But on this one I think it’s all lined up to shoot the goddamn moon. We’re not quite there, but we’re SO CLOSE. And yet there are big-time, smart, savvy people who are too impatient to let it play out. I’m so frustrated about that…)
tomvox1
@Elia:
Yes, opinions are optional around here, I’ve noted. Hmmm… What?
tomvox1
@Steeplejack:
Whoops!
Just Some Fuckhead
Way too meta for me, but the first comment was interesting in the way it sought to preemptively protect Obama from all evil despite Obama not actually being a subject of the post. Do these folks get paid for the slavish devotion or is it a hobby?
sparky
@Just Some Fuckhead: religion. everyone wants to believe in something or someone, and an attack is a violation of self. a cuter way to say it is that they are concerned that someone might splatter mud on the emperor’s new clothes.
as for this post, i found it enlightening and entertaining. i suspect AL is a bit too polite to make her point directly, however. being a clod, i have no such compunction. it is another example of how the sign replaces the thing signed so that from the view of the participant there is no distinction.
daveNYC
Denton is basically saying that the lowest common denominator sells, so go with that. Really glad he was teaching a class with that.
And I gave up on io9. Way too much fluffing of anything scifi, quality be damned. I’d love to know how much payoff they get from the media sources they cover.