It took him nearly a decade, but Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel has found a way to get revenge on Gawker Media for outing him: secretly bankroll defamation lawsuits to drive it out of business. He financed Hulk Hogan’s case to the tune of $10 million and is said to be behind other celebrity lawsuits, too.
Nick Denton, Gawker: “An open letter to PeterThiel”
J.K. Trotter, Gawker: “This is why billionaire Peter Thiel wants to endGawker”
Jim Rutenberg, New York Times: “Behind the scenes, billionaires’ growing control of news”
Megan McArdle, Bloomberg Views: “Attention, media people: “Peter Thiel changes nothing”
Will Oremus, Slate: “Peter Thiel just proved why Silicon Valley needs Gawker and Valleywag.”
Barry Meier, New York Times: “Revenge and the future of media finances”
Nellie Bowles, The Guardian: “What Silicon Valley’s billionaires don’t understand about the first amendment”
Kevin Dugan, New York Post: “eBay founder backing Gawker’s appeal of Hulk sex tape verdict”
Peter Sterne, POLITICO: “Gawker’sPeter Thiel contingency plan”
Jack Shafer, POLITICO: “Peter Thiel does the impossible!”
Steven Perlberg, Wall Street Journal: “GawkerMedia looking at possible ale of company”
Katie Rogers & John Herrman, New York Times: “Thiel-Gawkerfight raises concerns about press freedom”
Katie Rodgers & Danielle Ivory, New York Times: “In Gawker’s legal battles, a focus on defamation”
Chava Gourarie, Columbia Journalism Review: “Gawkercan’t hide its bad behavior behind press freedom”
Katie Couric’s Gun Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=59&v=Uqkwo3Xr2C4
Katie Couric, Under the Gun: “A message from Katie”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “Katie Couric feels the pressure, apologizes for bogus gun documentary”
Brian Stelter, CNN Money: “Katie Couric stands by ‘Under the Gun’ as director apologizes for misleading edit”
Lois Beckett, The Guardian: “Katie Couric gun control film entangled in #Gungate and a question of ethics?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_9q8K2VK8
David Folkenflik, NPR: “Katie Couric gun documentary undermined by manipulative editing”
Katie Rogers, New York Times: “Audio of Katie Couric interview shows editing slant in gun documentary, site claims”
Associated Press: “Gun supporters claim Katie Couric documentary is deceptive”
Erik Wemple, Washington Post: “Audiotape: Katie Couric documentary falsely depicts gun supporters as ‘idiots’”
Holder: Snowden performed ‘public service’
Matthew Jaffe, University of Chicago Institute of Politics: “Eric Holder now says Edward Snowden performed ‘public service’”
Rebecca Savransky, The Hill: “Holder: Snowden performed a ‘public service’”
Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian: “Eric Holder says Edward Snowden performed ‘public service’ with NSA leak”
Is this what it’ll be like?
Sam Reisman, Mediaite: “Watch: Reporters push back against Trump insults in contentious presser”
Jeremy Diamond, CNN: “Trump launches all-out attack on the press”
The Week: “Donald Trump resorts to insulting reporters during heated press conference”
Max J. Rosenthal, Mother Jones: “Trump press conference devolves into a shouting match with reporters”
Lesley Clark, Miami Herald: “President Trump’s press relations? Testy, he says”
Maxwell Tani, Business Insider: “Reporters grill Donald Trump during testy press conference: ‘You seem resistant to this kind of scrutiny’”
Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times: “Television networks struggle to provide equal airtime in the era of Trump”
Roots Revival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Claw7GL1-FY
Brian Lowry, CNN Money: “’Roots’ revived for a new generation on History Channel”
Stephanie Dunn, The Atlantic: “Why the ‘Roots’ remake is so important”
Frazier Moore, Associated Press: “Stars of original miniseries ‘Roots’ reflect on viewer reaction”
Matthew F. Delmont, New York Times: “Why America forgot about ‘Roots’”
Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “’Roots remake is necessary afterall”
Leonard Pitts, Jr., The Baltimore Sun: “Nothing was the same after ‘Roots’”
Michael Malone, Broadcasting & Cable: “Major pressure on ‘Roots’ rebooters to do the original justice”
Katie Richards, AdWeek: “History celebrates new show Roots with project to digitize post-slavery documents”