Gawker founder Nick Denton says company is ‘growing up’
Gawker founder Nick Denton has sought to put recent travails to one side by insisting that the news and gossip blog was ‘growing up’ in a staff memo.
It follows the resignation of Gawker’s executive editor Max Read and editor in chief Tommy Craggs after their article about a gay porn escort was abruptly pulled – allegedly under pressure from the site’s business interests.
Seeking to tackle issues of editorial freedom and the reputational damage incurred by the incident Denton wrote: “We will face up to celebrities and other public figures who use the courts and other pressure to suppress the truth; reinforce the existing church-state divide; establish a clearer standard of newsworthiness; inject some more humanity into Gawker.com; bring in more experienced executives, managers and editors; and refine our workplace culture; and continue.
“An executive editor can only be hired, fired or overridden with the agreement of both the founder and president. No business executives will participate in the decision, even in an advisory capacity as occurred this month. Minutes of discussions will be distributed within 30 days.”
To that end the platform will improve the separation of its editorial and advertising divisions by preventing commercial imperatives from interfering with editorial decisions, including the hiring or firing of staff.
Despite this however Denton vowed never to run a similar story again, criticising his departed editors for ruining the life of a private individual where there was insufficient public interest in doing so.
Separately Denton announced the appointment of Ian Fette as chief technical officer and the promotion of lead counsel Heather Dietrick who has seen her role expand.