Monday, October 06, 2008

Are Gawker Bloggers Real Journalists? (updated)

Sharon Waxman on the latest Gawker Media layoffs:

"So, now Nick Denton is laying people off, just like those dinosaurs in mainstream media.

The difference is, mainstream newspapers fired real journalists.

What the Gawker empire represents is as transitory as the people he employs. Denton has indisputably proved that you can create a lucrative business model out of highly targeted blogs, fed by tightly managed staffs of journalists who've numbed themselves to nagging doubts that what they do every day is journalism."

Her analysis is sobering. Does working for Gawker Media make you less of a commodity in the journalistic marketplace? More of one?

Or does it even matter, since Gawker Media employees embody the Web-based change that's staking MSM and the printed word? (Are they redefining the journalistic workforce marketplace altogether?)

UPDATE: Jobs: The Gawker Guide to a Journalism Career.

1 comment:

DigiDave said...

I've always been a little skeptical of Gawker. Seemed more like snark than anything else.

I also notice they have a high turnover rate (they are constantly hiring/firing people).

I think Denton's deal is to get young, eager, stary-eyed bloggers, use them up and spit them out.

But that's just my two-cents. I could be wrong about his hiring practices.