New Times,
New Thinking.

2 June 2014updated 09 Jun 2021 8:14am

VICE vs Gawker: the best media bitch fight ever?

VICE hits back at Gawker for a story about its employees being "broke and pissed off".

By Media Mole

Photo: Dan Hodgett/Flickr

The knives, or rather, the angry emoticons, are out as gonzo-journo masters VICE attack viral blogbusters Gawker for a story about the plight of VICE staffers.

The Gawker piece, titled “Working at Vice Media Is Not As Cool As It Seems”, came out on Friday, and anonymously quotes numerous disgruntled VICE staffers, former employees and freelancers. It describes the edgy magazine site’s employees as “broke and pissed off”, being paid pitiful salaries and having to compromise their journalism for brand sponsorship, while their now-wealthy founder Shane Smith waltzes about apparently oblivious to their plight.

Well, VICE has hit back in a charasterically frankly-headlined response: “VICE TO GAWKER: FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR GARBAGE CLICK-BAIT ‘JOURNALISM'”. The piece lists all the benefits its employees receive and labels the Gawker piece “abysmal”. “But then again,” it concludes, “since when did Gawker actually care about the truth?”

Gawker merrily posted this response to the bottom of its offending article as an update, commenting: “It does not refute any of the specific claims made by our sources about salary figures or about changing content to suit advertisers.”

Sheesh, you guys, get a room – on acid. 

Start the new year with a New Statesman subscription from only £8.99 per month.

Content from our partners
How to kickstart UK economic growth
Heat networks: a crucial piece of the UK Net Zero puzzle
We have to end the social housing stigma