HULK HOGAN VS. GAWKER; SHOCKERS THAT MAY BE REVEALED!
– WAS GAWKER A FRONT FOR DEMOCRATIC HIT OPERATIVE SIDNEY BLUMENFELD?
– WAS HOGAN TARGETED TO KEEP HIM FROM BECOMING A GOP SPOKESPERSON?
– WHY ARE BRITISH INVESTIGATORS INTERESTED IN NICK DENTON RELATIVE TO THE “HYDRANT” AND “CELEBRITY PHONE HACKING” SCANDALS? DID DENTON KNOW ANY OF THOSE CHARGED WITH PEDOPHILIA?
– WHY DID A YOUNG GAY BOY THROW A BRICK THROUGH NICK DENTON’S WINDOW
– IS NICK DENTON A HIRED POLITICAL “HITMAN”
– WHY DOES NICK DENTON HAVE SO MANY FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNTS? WHAT WILL FBI SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION ABOUT THOSE ACCOUNTS REVEAL?
– HOW MANY CELEBRITIES, POLITICOS AND ACTIVISTS, THAT HAVE BEEN MEDIA-RAPED BY NICK DENTON, WILL RALLY BEHIND HOGAN?
– HOW DO THE SONY, HSBC AND WIKILEAKS
– HACKS SUDDENLY TAKE ON NEW MEANING WITH THE EXPOSURE OF WHO PAID WHO FOR WHAT?
– WHAT DISEASE IS NICK DENTON INFECTED WITH?
– WHAT IS NICK DENTON’S CONNECTION TO IN-Q-TEL?
– HOW MANY CELEBRITIES ARE SECRETLY WHISPERING: “DIE NICK DENTON, DIE!”?
AND THAT’S ONLY PART OF IT. MARK YOUR CALENDERS FOR JULY 6TH, THE BEGINNING OF HULKPOCALYPSE IN COURT!!!!-
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
by Eriq Gardner
Hulk Hogan on Gawker Sex-Tape Trial: “I’ll See This Through to the End”
AP Images/Invision
As Hogan’s $100 million suit heads to a raunchy trial, the result could impact celebrity privacy and even the Sony hack — says one lawyer, “This whole dispute is remarkable.”
A version of this story first appeared in the June 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
When wrestler-turned-reality TV star Hulk Hogan sued Gawker in 2012 for posting part of a secretly recorded sex video, it was a poor bet that the $100 million suit would go to trial. No celebrity sex tape case has ever made it to a jury, for reasons ranging from the strength of the First Amendment to stars being more interested in wiping the video from the web than winning money. But Hogan (a
ka Terry Bollea) hasn’t settled, and on July 6, he is set to make history when a trial opens in Florida.
How the case got this far is a reflection on the parties. Gawker is run by Nick Denton, 48, whose outspoken aversion to celebrity privacy — and wars with everyone from Lena Dunham to John Travolta to Quentin Tarantino — borders on the fanatical. Hogan, 61, sees the courtroom as one more match to conquer. “I have never been afraid to fight for what I think is right,” Hogan tells THR. “I promised in the beginning that I would see this through to the end to hold Gawker accountable. And I will.”
Read More Gawker’s Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Story Is Turning Out to Be a Very Expensive One
In addition to possibly setting new legal precedent for media outlets that publish celebrities’ private moments, the trial could be one of the raunchiest ever. Even if Pinellas County Judge Pamela Campbell forbids the viewing of the video of Hogan with Heather Clem, the ex-wife of Hogan’s best friend, documents in the case suggest testimony could be graphic. In an effort to show the sex tape qualifies as “newsworthy,” Gawker is seeking to introduce evidence that Hogan has injected his sexual prowess into the public sphere by fondling women’s breasts for a Rocky III publicity photo shoot and discussing in interviews where on a woman he likes to ejaculate, the size of his genitalia and the use of his mustache when performing oral sex.
The potentially NC-17 two-week proceeding is being watched by Hollywood attorneys for less prurient reasons. “This whole dispute is remarkable,” says Adam Thurston at Drinker Biddle & Reath, who has handled cases involving celebrity sex photos. “I’m not aware of a celebrity sex tape case that has gone the full distance. … When you have a friendly state court judge, she’s going to let Hogan have a pretty free hand at trial.”
In addition to asserting his privacy rights were violated by Gawker, Hogan is suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress — saying in court documents that he “suffered a breakdown” when facing “a choice of having the sex video torpedo his career” — and alleging violation of his publicity rights, a popular claim by celebrities wishing to control the commercial use of their name and image.
Read More Hollywood Sex Abuse Accuser, Discredited By His Attorneys, Now Seeks to Avoid Deposition
Few publicity rights suits have made it to trial, as Dustin Hoffman‘s did in the late 1990s when he won a $3 million judgment against Los Angeles magazine for its computer-altered photo of him in a fashion spread. (The case was overturned on First Amendment grounds on appeal.) At Hogan’s trial, expect discussion of how celebrity sex and nudity is used to drive traffic (and revenue) to news and gossip sites like Gawker.
Hogan’s battle represents the latest strife in the escalating tension between the media and celebrities. As news outlets expand their reach through social media, public figures are finding it more difficult to escape the sometimes unflattering spotlight. More than 2.5 million people watched the Hogan sex video online. Gawker’s story was published alongside an essay about why everyone likes to watch celebrities have sex, which Denton believes adds to its newsworthiness. But Hogan’s team is preparing to call a professor of journalism at the University of Florida to testify that the video itself didn’t need to be posted and fails the “Cheerios test,” playing badly for readers eating breakfast.
The case addresses the breakdown of privacy in multiple ways. Hogan is claiming the tort of intrusion upon seclusion (usually analogized by the paparazzo who uses a telephoto lens to peek into a private residence) and also is asserting a claim under Florida’s Wiretap Act because Gawker published a recording that was filmed secretly. Can journalists use illegal recordings? In 2001, the Supreme Court suggested they could, as long as they only played the role of recipient — an opinion (Bartnicki v. Vopper) that recently provided confidence for those reporting on hacked Sony documents. But Hogan’s attorney Charles Harder points out the high court expressly exempted First Amendment protection on sex tapes and “domestic gossip or other information of purely private concern.”
Read More Gawker Beats Hulk Hogan: Appeals Court Reverses Sex Tape Injunction
What rises above gossip to be newsworthy? Gawker asserts that it had every right to publish the video because it was evidence of adultery that received widespread media attention before Gawker’s publication. The defendant also says Hogan participated in the discussion of the affair by denying it happened — potentially making the video needed corroboration. “The tell-all journalist in me is glad we’ll have the opportunity to air out the issues in public,” says Denton, who already has spent more than $1 million on the case (and had to sue his insurers to pick up some of the tab).
For Denton, who founded Gawker in 2003, the trial represents perhaps the most significant risk to his company. He settled a suit over an Eric Dane–Rebecca Gayheart sex tape that Gawker posted, but he says he found Hogan’s demands unreasonable. (Neither side will say what Hogan wanted.) Now, the fate of his company could be in the hands of Florida jurors who will be told that Google searches for “Gawker” reached a historic high around the time of the Hogan sex tape story. “It is time to put an end to the immoral bullies who use
the First Amendment as a means to destroy privacy and decency,” says David Houston, a Hogan attorney.
Denton estimates there’s a 1-in-10 chance Gawker faces “disaster.” Any loss will be appealed, but Gawker might have to post a substantial bond in the interim. At trial, the focus likely will be on how Gawker got the tape, what it knew about it, how it used it to its advantage, and Hogan’s injuries, if any (the potential $100 million comes from the punitive damages that Hogan has requested). Denton’s team likely will attempt to frame all this in the context of free speech. Legal observers like Thurston say that Gawker would have the upper hand in any post-trial appeal (the judge’s preliminary injunction was reversed by a Florida appeals court), but the more immediate problem for Gawker is that the jury won’t take up its constitutional arguments that Hogan’s claims interfere with the freedom of the press. Thus, a trial verdict could exert financial pressure on a media company that has prided itself on being as independent as possible.
Read More ‘Selma’ and the Sex Tape Controversy: MLK Historian Assesses Film’s Accuracy
As Denton prepares to defend a brand of journalism that he believes is free of corporate influence and the spin of publicists, he’s speaking out about how celebrities should know better. Asked what would happen if he had the chance to sit down with Hogan, Denton says he’d tell his nemesis, “I take no pleasure in your embarrassment, but this was a story we had to write: It was true and it was interesting. You let the genie out of the bottle; you boasted about your sexual conquests endlessly. And you took up a celebrity perk — an invitation to have sex with a fan’s wife — without thinking through the consequences. We take responsibility for our journalists’ words and actions; take responsibility for yours.”
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Gawker Media: Hypocrites vs. Douchecanoes
September 3, 2014
Afternoon Delight– Link to this WIKI Page: http://www.thenewsdaily.org/?p=3072
Gawker Media: Hypocrites vs. Douchecanoes
by Matt Forney 
For TAKI MAG.com
In 2002, a failed British journalist named Nick Denton started Gawker, a bitchy gossip blog run out of his Manhattan apartment. Over 10 years later, Gawker and its sister sites have become the biggest names in clickbait “journalism,” pulling down millions of visitors a month and making its owner a millionaire several times over. The secret to Denton’s success? He took the aggressive, lynch mob mentality of British tabloids, which specialize in ruining people’s lives, and injected it into America’s comparatively placid, Oprahfied media market.
In particular, Gawker, Jezebel, Valleywag, and their sister sites specialize in witch hunts: digital vigilantism against those who fail to keep up with leftist orthodoxy. Geoffrey Miller, Pax Dickinson, Justine Tunney, Violentacrez: the list of people whom Gawker has garroted for “racism” or “misogyny” could fill a phone book. With an army of Twitter twits behind it, Gawker Media truly is the moral majority of the left, instigating mob action against those who sin against the religion of tolerance. Gawker’s provocations are even encouraging real-world violence now, as Valleywag’s overfed man-baby of an editor Sam Biddle eggs on attacks against San Francisco tech workers from the safety of the East Coast.
For the past few months, 4chan has been engaged in a trolling operation against Jezebel, posting pictures of rape and gore porn in the comments section. Despite the fact that these shocking and disgusting images are stressing out staffers to the point where they’re developing PTSD, Denton has steadfastly refused to do anything about the problem. Jezebel’s staff recently snapped and posted an open letter on the site demanding that Gawker Media do something, calling 4chan’s trolling “a very real and immediate threat to the mental health of Jezebel’s staff and readers.”
Fat chance of this happening, however. As others have pointed out, Gawker Media’s business model depends on getting clicks; indeed, their writers are paid according to how many page views their articles get. Since comments help drive traffic to websites, fighting 4chan’s rape porn trolling will reduce Gawker’s profitability. Not only that, Google itself ranks web pages according to how many comments they have, as comments are extremely difficult to fake. Fewer comments means a lower page rank, which translates into less search traffic and less money for Denton to blow on exotic vacations with his boy-toy hubby. If Gawker Media was willing to testify in federal court as to why they should be allowed to rip off their interns, you can bet your bottom peso that they aren’t going to do jack about this.
Gawker Media Attack Specialist Adrian Covert of San Francisco. Now under 24/7 electronic surveillance for “suspicious activities”
And there’s the punch line. Gawker Media, the company that gets people fired from their jobs for making “sexist” jokes, has been creating a hostile work environment for its women staffers for months. They’re the leftist equivalent of a priest who rails against homosexuality only to be caught molesting altar boys in the confessional booths. In staying silent on this for so long, Dodai Stewart, Lindy West, and Jezebel’s other star employees have shown themselves to be frauds. They don’t care about feminism, “fat shaming,” or whatever cause they’re screeching about today; all they care about is money and power. And now we have the proof.
Please share this article by using the link below. When you cut and paste an article, Taki’s Magazine misses out on traffic, and our writers don’t get paid for their work. Email editors@takimag.com to buy additional rights. http://takimag.com/article/gawker_media_hypocrites_vs_douchecanoes/print#ixzz3CCvoAIP4
Advertisers Ditch Gawker Media In Droves. “Brand Tainted” says Forbes Exec. Gawker’s Denton Sweats Over Decline in Web Ad Revenues – CBS News
Nick Denton charged with ordering phone-hacking, helping Anonymous hackers, stealing Mitt Romney’s tax records, hiding money in Russia and Caymans and MORE…
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Terror– John Cook of Gawker; now of Greenwald – NOT CIA’S FRIEND!
Gawker Tries to Reveal Identity of CIA Agent Behind Bin Laden Kill
May 1: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Usama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House.AP
The Gawker website is under fire for trying to expose the CIA agent who may have helped lead the effort to kill Usama Bin Laden — despite efforts by the U.S. government and media to keep his identity secret for security reasons.
Using red arrows pointing to a full-length picture and close-up photos of the possible agent, Gawker reporter John Cook on July 6 wrote a piece under the headline “Is This the Guy Who Killed Bin Laden?” The story has since sparked an angry response from former intelligence agents — as well as Gawker’s own readers — who say Cook’s post was irresponsible and could have deadly consequences.
“This whole business of exposing people is a real serious matter. It’s not entertainment, some people may think it is, but it’s not … There are real people out there that are going to be killed because of this,” said Charles Faddis, a former CIA operations officer who spent 20 years working international hot spots and who headed the CIA’s Terrorist Weapons of Mass Destruction Unit before retiring in 2008.
“I don’t have a lot of patience for this,” added Faddis, speaking about attempts to out the identity of a CIA operative. “This is serious, this is really serious. It’s completely irresponsible.”
Some Gawker readers also weren’t amused. A commenter named “Myrna Minkoff” wrote in response to Cook’s story:
“If this is the guy who tracked down Bin Laden, I can think of no better way to thank him for his outstanding civil service than by outing him on a highly trafficked web site and putting his career, his life, the lives of his loved ones in danger. Hooray!”
Another commenter “joelydanger” wrote:
“Consider that the next time you decide to write another article that tries to glorify DEVGRU, the CIA, or anyone and anything else used on the mission. You’re causing harm and danger to the very people you’re claiming to be heroes.”
But Cook insisted he didn’t compromise anyone’s security by posting the photos.
“I do not believe my post put anybody in physical danger,” Cook said in an email response to several questions posed by FoxNews.com. “I do not believe that people whose photographs are distributed by the White House as part of its public relations efforts have a reasonable claim to ask that no one speculate as to who they are.”
Cook was referring to a series of official White House pictures taken from the Situation Room during the raid on Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. The most famous of those photos, seen on televisions, newspapers and websites around the world, showed President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other officials watching a live feed of the raid.
Barely visible in that photo is the right jacket arm and the bottom of a necktie that appear to belong to a tall man standing behind Gates. Other pictures taken in the Situation Room during the raid, posted on the White House Flickr feed, show full-on shots of a tall man whose jacket and tie appear to match those of the man standing behind Gates in the earlier photo.
On July 5, the Associated Press published an extensive article on a CIA agent who led the hunt and eventual takedown of Bin Laden. The article referred to the agent only as “John,” explaining: “The Associated Press has agreed to the CIA’s request not to publish his full name and withhold certain biographical details so that he would not become a target for retribution.”
Later that same day, the website Cryptome, a Wikileaks competitor that publishes leaked, sometimes classified documents and information, used clues from the AP article to home in on photos from the White House Flickr feed and other AP photos that might show “John.” The article noted that “John” appeared just out of frame in the famous photo.
The following day, Cook picked up the Cryptome info and published the photos from the White House Flickr feed, beneath the “Is This the Guy Who Killed Bin Laden?” headline. Cook’s post also included an AP file photo of CIA Director Leon Panetta leaving a briefing on Capitol Hill, where the man who may be “John” is seen in the background.
“Of course, it could be a random staffer who happened to be in both locations with John,” Cook wrote. “Or it could be the guy who iced bin Laden.”
The New York Observer posted a story late Tuesday that claimed to have confirmed the identity of the CIA agent, starting with the AP article and the Situation Room photo, and it posted photos online of the man it said was the agent.
Cook said he and his Gawker editors discussed potential safety concerns before publishing the information and photos.
“We came to the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that the White House would distribute for publication a photograph of a man whose life would be endangered if his photograph were ever published. Likewise, we decided that it is highly unlikely that such a man would publicly accompany the director of Central Intelligence, in the presence of AP photographers, to Capitol Hill to testify.”
But those White House photos do not identify the man in question, only noting that the group of people are “members of the national security team,” numerous Gawker commenters pointed out.
“You seem to have not noticed that they took great pains to make sure his face wasn’t in the shot and he was never identified by name,” Myrna Minkoff wrote, when another commenter challenged her criticism of the Gawker post.
Other commenters chimed in.
“Sure it’ll put him, his friends, and his family in danger regardless of whether or not he’s actually the guy, but it’ll generate some pageviews and advertiser revenue, and that’s the IMPORTANT thing, right?” wrote someone using the name “dgoat.”
“You should still be ashamed of yourselves.”
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Oh my! Gawker’s Nick Denton’s ex boyfriend is not happy with his new boy toy.
Frankly there’s nothing more delicious than watching someone famous for ripping people’s alive (yes journalism sucks these days) apart become his own parody on manners and gossip. That said there was a twinkle of relish when I came across page 6‘s interesting expose on Nick Denton, the media zealot of Gawker media (which owns a smattering of salacious dribble including gawker, jezebel,deadspin,lifehacker and jalopnik)who has suddenly found himself the scorn of a former jealous and one imagines scorned lover.
page 6: Gadfly Gawker Media head Nick Denton recently changed his Facebook status from single to “in a relationship,” but not everyone seems to be happy about it.
Sources say an angry ex of his new boyfriend tossed a brick through the window of Denton’s SoHo loft building recently, and has been causing enough further trouble that the police have been contacted.
Not to drift too much from Nick but I too was quite aghast when I decided to publicly note that I was no longer single but in a relationship on Facebook (for some reason I was quite surprised by the number of people who responded to what I perceived to be something really quite arbitrary and of little consequence in the world scheme of things, but yes people do pay attention it seems) which perhaps might explain the sudden attention that Mr Denton received when he publicly decided to note that he was in fact now no longer a pedophile or single.
Of course who also noted one assumes is a scorned former lover of the media titan who felt compelled enough to go smashing bricks into his former lover’s abode. And perhaps with good reason as it appears Mr Denton’s attentions have now turned to presumably a nimble agile and quite pretty young man ( 28 year old Derrence Washington) who it appears is an English actor here in NYC on tour (permanent tour one supposes).
What perhaps make the intrusion even more charming (not to suggest they are ever charming) is Mr Denton’s own acknowledgment that he is now being served the same dish he is well known famous for serving up on a regular basis.
When we asked Denton about the incidents, he told us via e-mail: “After that Hulk Hogan sex tape on Gawker, I can hardly complain about intrusion into my private life!
“Yep, love is messy,” he added.
Indeed love and gossip are quite messy but that said I’m betting Mr Denton is loving every minute of it. If I could suggest one thing Mr Denton, perhaps if you were to send a bouquet to the former lover it may temper their ire. I know it worked for me once. Oh dear…
above image found here
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Who owns the Gawker Media company? – Ask questions, Find …
NICK DENTON SAYS, ON CAMERA, TO NBC, THAT HE MAKES A LIVING DESTROYING PEOPLE:
