Jason gives Nick some tips on journalism
It looks like just another Valleywag rumour about some high-level departures at AOL — four senior executives that got the chop, according to Valleywag editor and Gawker Media founder Nick Denton (a former business journalist at the Financial Times in London). But like many blogs, all the action is in the comments section, where Jason Calacanis, ex-Netscape editor and ex-Weblogs Inc. founder, gives Nick some advice.
First, Jason says the rumour is “99% false,” because all four couldn’t possibly have been let go all at once. He then posts three more comments in quick succession — four comments in all, in about 20 minutes — at which point Nick comments, and says that another tipster has told him that two of the four are not leaving, a third is “on some lists” but doesn’t appear to be leaving either, and one is definitely out. This leads Jason to define the Nick Denton school of journalism approach:
1. Post a rumor as fact (”oops… did I forget to source that one?!”)
2. Let everyone respond to the fishing expedition/get the traffic
3. Place an “oh, I guess I was wrong” in the comments long after folks have read the headline and moved on to the next lie.
Nick then admits that he should have made it more clear the post was a rumour. At which point, Jason says: “Now that you have reports that this is not true, and you admit you misrepresented the truth I have to ask the question: why wouldn’t you correct the story above? You were a real journalist at one point right? I mean that seriously.” And then he adds:
I know you’re a gossip and porn publisher now, but you well know that when you make a mistake on a blog you correct it in the post. Frankly, I think you are making a huge mistake by playing these games. You have a lot of good insights as a business person and if you stopped trying to trick folks I think Valleywag would become worth reading.
So far no response from Nick. Want some more back and forth between Jason and Nick, this time about conflicts of interest between Nick and those he is writing about? Look no further.
Update:
It turns out that, accusations of gossip- and porn-mongering aside (can you monger porn?), Nick was pretty close to the mark and Jason was out to lunch.
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