Tag: Gawker Media

The Vision Thing: Successor To Spy Magazine & Gawker Edition — Julia Fox Would Be Key

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It is clear to me that all of this is just so much mental masturbation. Even if I somehow stick the landing with the novel I’m writing and it’s a breakout hit success, I would not have the funds necessary to do any of this until I was nearly 60.

Oh well.

But I’m young at heart, so here goes.

As I’ve written before, if I was going to do a successor to Spy Magazine and Gawker, I would make it some sort of podcasting network. And the person I would want to build the snarky podcasting network around would be some like Julia Fox.

Emma Chamberlain

She’s got a knack for generating buzz by just being herself.

A person I would also fixate on would be Emma Chamberlain.

I would be obsessed with Fox in a fun way and with Chamberlain in a snarky way. Chamberlain is a gorgeous young woman, but she would be really easy to tease because she’s so iconic to young people with thin skins.

I think some sort of podcasting network that had a lot of savvy young people as hosts who churned out a number of podcasts a day would be a hit. The vibe I am thinking of would be a snarky, non misogynistic version of Barstool. Something like that, but done in a way that would not drive young, well educated women away.

The goal would be for those types of young women to be in on the joke, once they realized that all the snarky comments about Chamberlain were done in good fun. And I think if the podcasting network was really, really obsessed with Julia Fox’s every twitch that that, too, would be something both men and women would enjoy.

But, again, the Internet of 2024 is very very very very different from the Internet of 2004. Even podcasting is a mature market and media landscape is so diffuse these days that it would be difficult to generate the type of buzz that Gawker did back in the day.

And, yet, the counter argument is that the dynamic that made Gawker so popular — that of media outlet that was totally consumed with the goings on of the media and entertainment elite in NYC that we plebs could enjoy — is still a viable option.

I’m not saying that there aren’t podcasting networks that don’t do some of what I’m talking about. But there’s not ONE network that replicates the vibe of Gawker from 2004. I would want the morning podcast of the network to be something that media professionals streamed every morning on the their way to work, and so on.

But, again, lulz. It’s over. This is the twilight of the type of media I love.

We Need A New Gawker

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Reading Ben Smith’s book “Traffic” has really riled me up on a daydreaming basis. It seems like with the rise of Xinnals that the time is ripe for a online publication that would follow in the footsteps of the 80s Spy Magazine and the early aughts Gawker.

Something snarky that would take the “cool kids” of media, culture and entertainment down a notch every once in a while.

And, yet, there are a lot — A LOT — of problems with this idea.

One is, lulz, something like a Gawker is quaint and moot in the age of AI. We may all be talking to our Digital Personal Assistant in the metaverse using our Apple Vision Pros and the whole idea of “reading” will be cast aside like cursive.

So, I think this is it. We’re never going to get punk back. We’re never going to have another a late night TV talkshow host who is like a young David Letterman and we’re never going to have another Spy or Gawker.


The economics just aren’t there.

I can tell you one thing, though, if I had the means to at least attempt a startup that was meant to follow in the footsteps of Spy and Gawker, I would do it. But it wouldn’t be as much fun as Nick Denton back in the day, though, cause I would be 20 years older — or more — doing it.

I hate being old.

Learning A Lot About Nick Denton In An Unexpected Way

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m reading Ben Smith’s “Traffic” and am delighted that I’m learning a lot about Gawker founder Nick Denton. But I also realize that I really need to recalibrate my expectations about my future.

While got my emotional knees broken in my mid-30s when I started ROKon Magazine in Seoul, at the same age Denton was starting up Gawker. As such, even if I somehow stick the landing and write a breakout hit novel….I’m not going to have the TYPE of success I always thought I would.

I have to accept that not only would I be in my mind-50s when I’m a published author — even if all goes according to plan — but because I will be so late in life having any sort of measurable success that it will all just not be what I thought I would get when I was younger.

I will get what I want and yet not really get what I want because of how old I am when I get it.

But the book Traffic is pretty good so far. I’m pleased that I’m actually reading all these books I need to read.

The 2024 Media Landscape

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Hmmm. If someone gave me, say, $1 million in startup media cash, how would I use it? If I had a choice, I think I would invest in it some sort of experimental media company for the Apple Vision Pro that would link it to AI generated entertainment.

But if I *had* to work with legacy media, then, I think I would setup shop in Manhattan and start a zine of some sort that was really weird and really conspicuous. I would go out of my way to all but stalk the employees of the major media outlets in the city and physically hand them copies of the zine.

I would then leverage the buzz from that to make a really popular network of podcasts that would point people to a series of blogs.

And, yet, I think I’m too stuck in about 2006.

The media landscape is kind of meh at the moment and it definitely seems as though some combination of XR and AI is where we’re going to see all the cool stuff in the next few years (months?) There’s just no space left for any sort of new media outlet with a print component.

Print is all over but the shouting, as best I can tell.

So, I dunno. It will be interesting to see what the next few years see.

We Need A Media Outlet To Believe In

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The potency of The New York Times comes from how many people believe in it. And, in its own way, that’s what made Gawker Media so potent at one point — it was easy to believe in it. Until it wasn’t because it was icky.

I have a tendency to draw attention to myself.

But I do believe that there is a market — and audience — for a media outlet that leans into the spirit of the old Gawker’s early days when it was a fun, snarky blog that rallied the troops every day with its call for droll common sense.

Of course, the obvious venue for this would be a podcasting network of some sort. And, yet, I think even podcasting is so mature these days that, lulz, why are we even talking about this.

This all makes me think about how if I somehow magically lived in New York City that I would start an old fashion zine that covered whatever borough I lived in. I really enjoy zines — obviously — and if I did a good enough job with the zine, I think people of note would take interest in it.

Put me in, coach.

Of course I would hand the thing out in person in front of offices of The New York Times in an effort to catch media attention for it. Even though I’m old as hell, if I was living in either NYC or LA for any duration of time, I could still draw a lot of attention to myself just by…being myself.

And, yet, lulz.

Anyway, there definitely seems to be something of a vacuum in modern media at the moment. Or maybe everything is so scattered and defuse at this point that since there’s no “center” anymore that it’s just not possible for there to be an alternative to it.

Oh well.

We Need A Gawker-Like Podcast Network

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

This is kind of moot now, but I suppose that there is still a little bit of a window of opportunity for someone to create a Gawker Media-like podcasting network. Instead of a blog, you would have a lot of podcasts — two a day, five days a week.

You would have morning and afternoon / evening podcasts that ran about an hour that would discuss pop culture events. If you really wanted to be a bit edgy, you might stream them live so they could react to events in real-time.

But, like I said, I don’t know if such a thing is even possible now. We’re kind of just on the cusp of moving into a new media environment where everything gets pulled into the maw of AI and XR (VR / AR) and, well, that’s a whole new frontier.

So, I dunno. It is curious that no one did such a thing while there was still time. I think some of it is that the media landscape isn’t one-to-one to the early days of blogs, so there never really was an opportunity for a new Gawker-like media outlet to be birthed in the age of podcasts.

Never Meet, Er, Get Blocked By Your Heroes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I used to work in technology back in the late 90s until the need to be a professional journalist ate itself out of my psyche. In hindsight, of course, I should have tried to be a novelist or screenwriter back then. But I love writing and at the time I thought I had what it takes to be a journalist.

I *do* have what it takes to be a journalist, but I think it would be a freelancer. Anyway, I left the company I was at where I worked as their “technology manager” and ended up at a small, but very influential community newspaper. The guy who ran the thing was kind of the Lorne Michaels of the Virginia publishing industry.

Of course, I was in a very, very bad place at that point in my life and promptly totally and completely bungled the whole thing, getting fired in short order.

Flash forward, and I’m obsessed with Nick Denton and Gawker Media. I have an obsessive personality — that helps when you’re writing a novel, but can cause problems with anything else.

Anyway, last I saw, Denton had blocked me on Twitter. This really made me wince. I feel so bad. It’s an example of what I call “the Kook tax.” When you’re a kook, sometimes…you screw up. And you have to live with the consequences. Being blocked by someone you otherwise really admire is an example of that.

Lulz. Moving on.

I’ve Noticed Something

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though American pop culture is in the midst of some sort of vibe shift. I’ve been listening to Ben Smith, formerly of BuzzFeed, go on his podcast book tour and I’ve noticed a few things from listening to all of his conversations asking him questions from different directions.

Smith makes it clear that he thinks we’re kind of between media eras at the moment. The thing he kept saying that caught my attention is that people have returned to reading The Drudge Report to “know what’s going on.”

I find that comment intriguing.

Before I continue, let me be clear that months go by before I actually go to a Website and read content. I get all of my information passively via Twitter or through reading the headlines of various email lists I’m subscribed to. And, what’s more, it’s clear that it’s very possible that generative AI is about to revolutionize the EVERYTHING, including journalism.

And, yet, there’s a little part of me that wonders if we’re overdue for a site that would have the personality of The Drudge Report — and serve a similar purpose — but would have a more modern and mass sensibility.

My vision of this site would be something in the tradition of Spy Magazine, Late Night With David Letterman and Gawker. It seems as though if you came out of the gate swinging with a unique, interesting take on the days news that was more than just links that you might — MIGHT — be able to recreate the magic of the snarky 2002-2004 era of the Web.

But it would have to be updated for modern audience expectations. You would have to have not just a blog you updated throughout the day, but a podcast or two as well. The window of opportunity for this venture is pretty small and closing fast because, well, luz, who knows how fast AI developments are going to go in the near term.

And you would have to have the resources to pull this off. So, it’s not like I could just do it on my own, no matter how much I am so delusional to try (if I had the resources to do so.)

But for the rise of AI and the metaverse, I would propose that conditions are there for a Gawker-like blog that was really aggressive in being a place where people would visit when they woke up — or got to work — to know What’s Going On.

And, yet, just as we’re overdue for a third wave of punk….I think my hunch while correct on paper just doesn’t make any business sense. The Web is mature. Apps are mature. AI and the metaverse are zooming towards us at an alarming rate.

So, lulz. My little dream is essentially 20 years too late. I need to go back t omy novel.

The Existential Angst Of Being Blocked By Nick Denton On Twitter

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

They say never met your heroes and it’s pretty clear that I’m never going to meet Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media. I’m blocked by Denton on Twitter and I’m completely mortified by the fact. But, alas, I have to admit that he probably has a legitimate reason to do so.

There was a moment in my life when I was pretty obsessed with not just Mr. Denton but Gawker Media. That moment in time is long gone, but the consequences of me pinging Denton all the time on Twitter remains. This situation reminds me of how there was a very influential community publisher who gave me a chance during a dark period in my life…only to realize that I was completely bonkers.

And, yet, at the same time I feel I can only feel so bad about this situation. Denton has a strong reputation as something of a journalistic mentor to young reporters in New York City and if there’s one thing I’m not good at, it’s being mentored by someone.

Fuck that.

Any mentoring of someone involves a certain level of manipulation. And so not only am I too old to be mentored by, I hate being manipulated for any reason.

So, lulz. I suppose if I write a breakout hit novel and I get to be a smug Twitter liberal, maybe I’ll meet Denton at a cocktail party and convince him to unblock me.