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.
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