Former Gawker Writer Bemoans The No-Benefits Denton Plan (Updated!)
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Ian Spiegelman is a former Page Six contributor who spent some time as Gawker's weekend blurb jockey.
This morning, he left some interesting advice for his replacement.
In the comments section of an otherwise harmless entry about (naturally) a piece in the New York Times, Spiegelman let loose with some thoughts about his former employer.
Besides criticizing Gawker's obsession with the Times, Spiegelman laid out a pretty grim scenario of how Gawker Media honcho Nick Denton treats his writers...
This was Spiegelman's original comment:
Nice juxtaposing of Times stories, new weekend dude. See, this is part of why I quit--having to cover the weekend Times is so fucking infuriating. You can make fun of them all you want, but they simply refuse to stop existing.
The country is at 9% unemployment? People are losing their homes? Hey! What's going on in the Hamptons?
It was maddening. It literally almost made me vomit a couple times for the few weeks I still worked here after the crash--with our money-padded overlord insisting that The Sunday Times was still remotely relevant.
The Sunday Times is, and has been for at least twenty years, for slack-jawed private school legacies who don't need to work, and who can't write. Kick those fucker in the ass every chance you ever get.
(And predict that your new overlord will turn on you if you're not a milky sheep, because it's what he does. He reads the Sunday Times Religiously, and agrees with it.)
If he ever moves you to full time, keep notes. You'll have a solid labor case against the Brit Frankenstein and his pet boy.
Best, always,
Ian
When another commenter defended the Times, Spiegelman again criticized the big Sunday edition before moving on to the following...
Ever wonder why so-called "New York" magazine only reports on Manhattan and some parts of Brooklyn? Senior editors from Choat and Andover with trust funds that would choke a hippo. I dare Adam Moss to deny it.
The rest of the writers have to come to places like this, where a Brit millionaire steals their money because he doesn't want to pay payroll tax or SSI or unemployment insurance on his fulltime employees. So he calls them "Independent Contractors" despite the fact that they work 40+ hours a week, are expected to attend mandatory staff meetings, and can be called in at a moment's notice by the managing editor to work weekends (for which there is no overtime) if a story breaks.
So this isn't self-righteous fury. This is righteous fury. The mainstream press has been sold to rich babies who watch each other's backs. The rest has been sold to scummy opportunists of the sort who run this site in total opposition to state and federal law.
But at least one of these diseases can be stopped. Lawson, Tate, Nolan, Pareene... How long will you put up with it? You like working full-time with no benefits? Do you enjoy paying your own payroll tax every year even though you are full-time employees? You like the possibility that Nick, or, worse, that sham "editor" Gabriel, will up and fire you for no reason? And then you won't even get unemployment? Nick Denied Sheila's claim--why would he treat you differently?
Oh, but YOU won't get fired, right? Because Nick likes you. Ask yourself: Has Nick ever liked anyone? His entire business is based on cheating his employees out of benefits and cheating the state and federal government out of taxes.
If any of you are curious about how you might seek some equity from this criminal, and from the helpers who have been cooking his books for four months, at least, just email me. I have a list of lawyers who would love to talk to you.
Hi Nick!
Normally, we would contact Gawker for some sort of comment on this kind of thing. But in this case, it seems best to post first and ask questions later -- hey, just like Gawker does it!
UPDATE: Gawker responded to this post with a pimp for our Obie awards. I, for one, am grateful. Thanks Nick, Gabe, and co. Should be fun tomorrow night hanging with Anne Hathaway, Daniel Breaker, Martha Plimpton and of course our own Michael Feingold. And Michael Musto hosts the afterparty! But that's how us old crunchy media people roll.
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