Emily Gould Star Commentor
“I think the short answer is that writers go back because Gawker Media sites and sites modeled after them spent the bulk of this past decade systematically obviating and destroying most all of writers’ other options for regular employment. We’ll all work at Gawker one day!”
Emily Gould on why writers return to Gawker (”Doree Returns (To Gawker)“)
I would also hazard that the “style” needed to be a good Gawker writer just does not translate well to any other medium. Magazines do not want shallowly-researched snark. Ditto, newspapers. Meanwhile, writers for other Gawker sites like Gizmodo and Deadspin have specialized knowledge bases that translate throughout targeted industries. That is to say, A Gizmodo writer could probably easily move to PC Magazine or wherever. What is a Gawker writer’s specialized knowledge base? Media? Only for a tiny few.
Not to say that Gawker writers cannot give magazines and other media the content they want, they just don’t excel at it any more than the glut of writers out there. And once they experience that, Gawker looks like a warmplace to return to flex what they are best at.