Nick Denton: Gawker to search for new top staff and draw up editorial code

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/27/nick-denton-gawker-staff-editorial-code

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Gawker Media will begin hunting for new senior editors and drawing up an editorial code this week in a bid to repair the damage caused by a deleted post on its flagship site.

In a memo to staff, founder Nick Denton said Gawker president Heather Dietrick will search for a replacement for executive editor Tommy Craggs, who resigned earlier this month along with Gawker editor-in-chief Max Read in response to Denton’s decision to remove a post about a publishing CFO contacting a gay escort.

The company is moving into a new office on New York’s Fifth Avenue, and Denton described the period of upheaval as an “opportunity” to help redefine Gawker.

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“The storm surrounding the CFO escort story has abated sufficiently for our internal soul-searching to begin,” reads the memo. “After the passionate public argument of the last week, calm is restored enough to begin a real, civil dialogue.”

“This is an opportunity to be seized, our best shot as an independent media company supporting the freest journalists on the web.

“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. This is the next stage of our evolution.”

Denton said the company hopes to announce an interim editorial lead for Gawker this week, and announced the hiring of former Google executive Ian Fette as chief technology officer.

The memo says that in future no executive editor will be “hired, fired or overridden” unless both Denton and the company’s president agree and no advertising staff will be involved even in an advisory position.

Denton asked senior executives to vote on his decision to remove the post but Dietrick voted to retain it. However, three other senior executives, including president of advertising and partnerships Andrew Gorenstein, supported Denton.

The company is offering severance pay to both Craggs and Read and any other staff who want to leave Gawker because of the new editorial controls Denton is proposing.