![]() What I mean is that the $140 million verdict won by Hulk Hogan was the result of a straightforward application of privacy law. Do you think Thiel’s role in financing Hulk Hogan’s successful invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Gawker represents a threat to the First Amendment? Should other media companies fear the consequences? Certainly I would like to see someone continue that tradition without resorting to the grotesque invasions of people’s privacy that defined Gawker’s worst excesses. The difference is that Univision may not be willing to take the kind of risks that Gawker Media founder Nick Denton took, which ultimately put him out of business.Īt its best, Gawker told truth to power in a manner that was truly fearless. Thus, I imagine that some of what we were accustomed to seeing on Gawker will turn up on those other sites instead. Only is shutting down the other parts of Gawker Media, including the sports site Deadspin, the tech site Gizmodo, and the women’s site Jezebel, will continue under Univision, which acquired them through the bankruptcy sale. Gawker was a purveyor of gossip for an audience whose members considered themselves smarter and more sophisticated than the sort of people who go to, say, TMZ or Perez Hilton. What did you see as Gawker’s role in the broader media landscape? Do you foresee any other organization filling that role? Its termination, he says, could empower “wealthy interests” to use the legal system to drive media organizations out of business. Here, Dan Kennedy, associate professor in the School of Journalism and a nationally known media commentator, weighs in on the effect of shuttering the gossip site on the broader media landscape and the “troubling” mechanics behind the suit that served as its demise. It was later revealed that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel-an outspoken critic of the website-provided financial backing for Hogan’s suit, which came to a close earlier this year, when a Florida court ruled in Hogan’s favor and the jury handed down a $140 million verdict that ultimately doomed the media company. Gawker’s problems began in October 2012, when the gossip site ran a portion of a sex tape featuring wrestler Hulk Hogan, which Hogan claimed violated his privacy and infringed on his public rights.
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