Please Don't Kiss and Make Up
One of the more unpleasant developments in the world of media criticism—a generous term in this context—is the website
Gawker, a cynical, bitchy site about celebrity and the media. The people behind Gawker are anonymous, their writing unsigned...but that doesn't stop them from sniping at virtually anyone who's ever appeared in the media (including, yes, yours truly). A typical Gawker item: making a joke about Paris Hilton having "the clap." As you might imagine, Gawker—like just about any site that plays on people's jealousies and insecurities, and is sometimes funny—is wildly popular.
So it was a delight yesterday to read this item on the New York Post's Page Six. I'm going to quote the whole thing here (sorry you can't see the photo), because this level of vitriole in the New York media is indeed unusual:
"July 17, 2024 -- THIS is the face of snarkiness incarnate. Unknown outside the dork-infested waters of the Blogosphere, her name is Jessica Coen, and she's the co-editor of Gawker.com, where she regurgitates newspaper and magazine stories and slathers them in supposedly witty sarcasm. Every time we bump into Coen, 25, who likes to accessorize with a stuffed dog poking out of her handbag, she smiles and showers us with sycophantic praise. But her every mention of PAGE SIX on her Web site is snide and snarky. Word to Coen: Next time you see us at a party, keep walking. Or slithering. You can't be a boot-licker and a back-stabber at the same time."
Gawker's response? A weak attempt at parody:
"There’s This Pot. And This Kettle.
This is the face of hard newsiness incarnate. Unknown outside the skeeve-infested circles of gossip-mongers, its name is Page Six, and it serves as the gossip column for the New York Post. (Incidentally, the Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who isn’t even American.) Page Six, which eats only the kittens they choose not to drown, loves to set fire to your furniture while wearing last season’s skeevy H&M. Page Six hates Live 8 and was thrilled to hear about what happened in Iraq this weekend. On their way to a vacation in North Korea, Page Six tried to kill a recently adopted Ethiopian baby. Word to Page Six: Watch your step, ‘cause Brad Pitt ain’t gonna have none of that."
Advantage: Page Six, whose attack has the ring of truth, while Gawker's response is just...lame.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big Page Six fan either. But Page Six is buried within the NY Post—not exactly highbrow media—and in a weird way, it does have its own set of moral codes.
At its best, Gawker is a vehicle for social satire of our celebrity culture. More often, it's just a way for kids whose careers aren't going as planned to be mean without having to be held accountable for their nastiness.
