Considered by many to be the 'smartest man in the blogosphere', Nick Denton is the founder of the hugely popular Gawker Media group of blogs. Recently, Gawker Media was in the news when Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer got the police to raid the house of a blogger from Gawker Media's gadget site Gizmodo, which had published specs of a next genration iPhone.

[From the 100 Ways To Be Being Remarkable Series, a special project that brings you business and self-development advice from The Success Manual. ]

1. On Origins of Gawker Media

For me, when I was at the FT, I always thought the most interesting stories were the ones journalists told each other over a drink after deadline. 'What really happened?' 'What's he really like?' The stories they can't publish because they are too sensitive or because they have been told off the record, or because they only have one source or they can't be stood up.

... there are also the stories which can't be told because they seem too trivial and therefore they don't meet the rather rigid newspaper standard for what is news. The truth is those are the stories people are really interested in, so why shouldn't those conversations be reflected in a publication? That's always been my test for what makes a story: is this something journalists would gossip with each other about?

3. On Getting Publicity for Blogs
You can’t buy that kind of publicity,” when a celebrity like actor George Clooney or talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel gets riled up about the popular Gawker Stalker feature (in which Gawker.com publishes readers’ reports of spotting famous people on New York City streets).

4. On Gawker's Mission

We go after sacred cows. We run stories on the basis of one anonymous source, in many cases, and a bit of judgment. We put it out there. We make clear the level of confidence we have in a story. We ask for help [from site visitors], we ask for corroboration, we ask for denials. Every single story is a work in progress, it's not meant to be final. It's like a reporter's notebook.

... We don't seek to do good. We may inadvertently do good. We may inadvertently commit journalism. That is not the institutional intention.

5. On Whether Gawker Writers Are Journalists

My personal take is that Gawker writers and editors, including those at Gizmodo, are clearly journalists. Journalists are those who commit journalism, regardless of medium.

6. On Real News vs. Opinion/Gossip Blogs

People -- particularly if they're under 40 -- have news priorities other than those of the editors of The New York Times or producers of the "NBC Nightly News." A new tablet from Apple -- or last night's episode of "Gossip Girl" or the adventures of the hipster grifter -- is a bigger deal than the latest petty scandal in Albany. You think that's a damning indictment of modern society and a recipe for idiocracy? Fine. Start a nonprofit to cover all the local-government news you think a healthy society needs. But don't expect advertisers -- or commercially-minded publishers or readers, for that matter -- to share your interests.

7. On the Valve of Original Online Content

If a good exclusive used to provide 10 times the traffic of a standard regurgitated blog post, now it garners a hundred times as much. That should be reassuring to people. The content market is finding its new balance. Original reporting will be rewarded.

8. On Gawker's Marketing Efforts

We don't have to spend a penny on marketing because our stories spread by word of mouth or word of email and why would we want to kill that?...Anyway why would we need to advertise when someone like George Clooney does the job so much better than we ever could?

Forget about the writing — the most important thing we do is creative services,” in which Gawker Media helps agencies produce glossy advertisements.

9. On Big Business's Power and state of Tech Reporting (e.g. Apple Computer)

I used to cover Silicon Valley for the Financial Times. I'd never experienced such control freak publicists. New York corporate communications professionals are angels of transparency by comparison. Apple's PR people have more power than any others -- because they can dole out access to the hottest gadgets on the planets. I don't blame them for herding the tech reporters; only the tech reporters for going along so uncomplainingly to the slaughter.

Note: Nick's wisdom has been sourced from his numerous media interviews.

Related
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