Not a Newspaper. That's for Sure. UPDATED

Yeah. Like, who gives a crap about whether it's true, right? Because after all, we'd rather read garbage and rumors than fact. Denton should be embarrassed to have written and circulated this memo. But he's probably not.

From the Awl, a memo from Nick Denton to Gawker staffers.

From: Nick Denton
Date: Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Subject: We're not running a newspaper
A few cases recently where we've thought *way* too much before publishing. Even when we've had exclusive information or even documentary evidence.
There's always a good argument for waiting. Let's check to see whether the associated claim is true; oh, the source might be exposed.
But we should publish anyway, making clear what we know to be true and what remains up in the air. Or even just publish a headline or quicklink and fill the story in later. We can always update. We can always write a second post when we've established more of the facts.
We've brought in some of the better traditions of newspapers. We're breaking more stories than we ever have. That's awesome.
But there's no way we're going to slow our publishing schedule to that of a ponderous newspaper-style organization — where everything has to go through layers of edit and approval and checking and legal. If we did that, we'd be neither as authoritative as a newspaper nor as nimble as the smaller blogs that *do* indeed publish as soon as they get something.
At some media organizations you might get rapped for running a premature story. At Gawker Media, you'll lose way more points for being scooped on a story you had in your hands.
Nick

  A little update, because this memo is so disturbing. I did a little legal work a couple of years ago, preparing to serve as a defense witness in a libel case. Had it gone to trial, the suit would have turned on accuracy and whether the paper had done the utmost to report and verify the facts, and had stuck to good journalistic practices. And as a copy chief at one point in my career, during which the city desk never met a deadline it couldn't blow, I would occasionally yell out to the rim as time ran out, "If it ain't libel, send it." But, you see, that was the one unbreachable barrier--libel. You simply cannot tell your staff to skip the well-established editing process AND the lawyers and think that that won't blow up in your face someday. I await the first legal test of this foolish memo's premise.

Rumors as News

Abu Aardvark writes about rumors that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had died and notes that the rumors serve to show how distrusted the official Egyptian press is.

But as Abdullah al-Sanawi argues this is something quite
extraordinary: journalists and citizens and politicians trying to find out if their own President was live were resorting to calling foreign ambassadors. As the official media offered statements devoid of any evidence, which people
simply didn't trust, the story quickly spread to the Arab satellite television stations like al-Jazeera and from there to the foreign media - but they couldn't get any reliable information out of the regime either. All in all, the episode
demonstrates the dangers of a regime's lost credibility and of a corroded official public sphere.

And so the Egyptian government, after first issuing threats, has arrested the editor of the independent weekly al-Dustour, Ibrahim Eissa.

Here's more about his arrest.

Meantime, the debate over the printing of rumors continues.

Abby Goodnough, in Oh, Everyone Knows That (Except You) in The New York Times, examines the rumors about sex lives of public officials and whether their private lives are fair game for public discussion. Those who want to publish information about reputedly gay officials say the hypocrisy of their political views leaves them open to outing; others are not so comfortable with the idea that what goes on in private ought to be made public.

It reminds me of the old days of Connecticut journalism (the early 1980s) when many editors and reporters knew that Gov. Ella Grasso was dying of ovarian cancer but chose not to report it.

Standards have changed, some for the better, but, I have to say, watching outed officials squirm doesn't make me feel good. On the other hand, if you have a personal quarrel with his legislative actions, you might feel differently.