Published by
The Empire

After Gawker item, Rep. Chris Lee resigns

Rep. Chris Lee - a married Republican from upstate - announced he's resigning from congress following the "profound" mistake he made contacting a woman on Craigslist.

It's not the first time a career has ended thanks to the private exploits of a public official first reported by a not-so-mainstream media outlet.

Gawker published emails they say were between Lee - sent from a private account - and a woman who posted an ad on Craigslist. A spokesman for Lee first suggested the emails could been the result of someone hacking into his account.

But there was also the topless photo of the congressman, which seemed like a smoking gun.

Gawker has made a concerted effort to concentrate on original reporting, and not just being a site of well-written recaps of other people's work. They - along with Columbia Journalism Review - FOILed David Paterson's emails - something I had marginal success at.

It only took Gawker one item to end Lee's career, whereas the National Enquirer spent years chasing John Edwards around the country, and put his extramarital affair on their front page and inside their paper, numerous times before the mainstream media caught on.

Gawker did this by simply having the goods. The emails. The photos. Basically, that was all you needed. The National Enquirer had unnamed sources, blurry photos, much less traction with the MSM.

If there's a lesson from the Chris Lee & Gawker episode it's that any web site can end a career; any web site can get the goods. If, you know, they have sources and good info.

Which is all journalism ever really required, right?