burning-bridges

My Correspondence With Joel Stein And His Wife

Doree Shafrir · 09/07/07 01:10PM

At the Time 100 gala a few months ago, I approached Joel Stein ("humorist," LA Times and Time columnist), whose relationship with this website has been, shall we say, tense, and introduced myself. Almost immediately, he asked why Gawker hates him. He said he "really wanted to know." He also said that his wife gets really upset when she reads Gawker and sees all the mean things people say about her DH. As we parted, I offered to send Joel and his wife a Gawker commenter invite. In the grand tradition of people leaving this place with a fuck-you to the people who, despite being total hacks, have managed to wrangle themselves a lucrative, high-profile job in journalism, I've decided to post our correspondence. Joel Stein, congratulations. You're my Joe Dolce.

How To Not Cultivate Sources And Not Make Friends

Choire · 06/13/07 09:59AM

Yesterday, our friends at the lovely Huffington Post ran an item about us, sort of! It was about how this silly company we work for is supposedly starting a "sci-fi" blog. It ran on the HuffPo Media page, which, it turns out, is not the same as their Eat The Press page, for no reason known to us. Also it was without byline. So, as a way of saying hi, and maybe digging passive-aggressively for a little dirt, but also just being all Silicon Alley new media friendly, I sent over an email to Elinor Shields, who came to the Huffington Post as their managing editor back in January from BBC.com.

Steven Rubenstein Is Worth Every Penny

Choire · 03/12/07 12:06PM

Publicist Steven Rubenstein had a good idea. People had been saying for weeks that New York mag's Vanessa Grigoriadis was assigned to write a profile of New York Observer owner Jared Kushner, one of his favorite clients. Everyone figured that she'd tear that place apart and rip Jared up bad like he was just another Paris Hilton. So Rubenstein wasn't going to let her anywhere near young Jared. But still, the redesign of the Observer into a tabloid was a great occasion for some good press! And so, a month ago, he co-opted the usual closing-night staff drinks and made it into a party, and invited a reporter and a photographer from the New York Times. A night out with!