Ex-Gawker big back as relaunch editor

BUSTLE Digital Group has hired a firebrand writer from Gawker’s past to lead a third effort at resurrecting the snarky gossip site it picked up at a bankruptcy auction nearly three years ago.

Bustle had little to say on the effort except to confirm it hired Leah Finnegan as editor-in-chief, a move first mentioned as a one-liner in Ben Smith’s media column in The New York Times this week.

Bustle also confirmed the launch efforts but declined to discuss timing, editorial mission or staffing plans.

Finnegan worked at Gawker for one year during its heyday as a writer and features editor before taking a buyout in July 2015. Despite her short tenure, she gained a reputation for pushing the envelope at the Web site, already famous for its irreverent posts, and for feuding with Gawker founder Nick Denton.

Some media watchers are already predicting trouble ahead for Bustle owner Bryan Goldberg.

Elizabeth Spiers, the founding editor of Gawker back in 2002-03 when it was a buzzy blog site centered on the New York media world, praised the hiring of Finnegan while also predicting clashes between Goldberg and the staff.

“She’s great and I hope it works,” Spiers tweeted Monday. “But Bryan and I have talked about Gawker before and I told him the first thing he’s not gonna like is that the Gawker team will want to unionize. And he will push back on it. And not want to fight his VCs [venturecapitalist investors]. And he has no incentive to fight them.”

Finnegan tweeted about her new gig Sunday evening, saying “the rumors are true!” But Media Ink was unable to reach her for further comment.

In addition to her time at Gawker under Denton, Finnegan also spent a year at Bustle as editor-in-chief of its tech Web site The Outline before Goldberg pulled the plug on it at the start of the pandemic. Before working at Gawker, Brooklyn resident Finnegan spent 2½ years at The New York Times.

Finnegan arrived at Gawker the year before it shuttered, just as it was attempting to rein in some of its more outlandish posts — leading to a bit of a culture war between Gawker’s still-bloodthirsty writers and its top executives.

One such feud burst into public view after Gawker ran a story outing a top executive at Condé Nast, a married family man who reportedly tried to arrange a liaison with a gay escort on a business trip. The article triggered a furious backlash for the apparent gay shaming of a relatively unknown executive, and several major advertisers pulled ads.

A day after the explosive story was published, Gawker’s top executives voted to pull it down and Denton issued a lengthy apology, saying the story should never have been published.

Finnegan was reportedly one of the leaders of the editorial uprising against Denton that followed.

According to an article on the Capital New York Web site in July 2015, Finnegan accused Denton of selling out to please advertisers in what was described as a heated shouting match.

“Do you know how much money we lose all the time because of cancellations in ads?” Denton is reported to have said in the exchange with Finnegan. “I cannot, I cannot believe that you are actually saying this!”

“Make this into an advertising company then!” she fired back, according to the report by Peter Sterne. “Say what it really is! It’s not a place for journalism!”

Goldberg has attempted to resuscitate Gawker twice before, but it has stubbornly remained a zombie site since 2016 when then-owner Denton lost a $140 million invasion-of-privacy lawsuit filed by Hulk Hogan that forced it to shut down and auction off its sites to new owners.

It’s unclear if, by tapping Finnegan, Goldberg now wants to revive the snarky site that at its peak attracted 23 million unique viewers.

“My view hasn’t changed since the first time they tried to relaunch,” said past Gawker editor-inchief Gabriel Snyder. “I strongly believe the world needs a publication like the old Gawker, but I fail to see why it has to be called Gawker.”

A majority of the more than 650 tech workers at The New York Times wants to unionize, according to the NewsGuild of New York, which said it will seek voluntary recognition as their bargaining agent.

Management received the request Tuesday morning and is studying the matter.

The NewsGuild already represents more than 1,300 newsroom and businessside employees.

The new effort includes engineers, product managers, designers, quality-assurance staffers and data analysts who build and maintain digital products and systems for the Gray Lady.

“It’s long past time to bring democracy into our workplace and ensure all workers have a voice in our work and our working conditions,” said Kathy Zhang, a union organizer and senior manager of newsroom and product analytics at the Times.