Gawker Review (essay 2)

The Gawker blog puts a creative spin on the everyday media that we as Americans are exposed to and it uses catchy headlines to draw the readers’ attention. For those Americans who read the newspaper, latest magazines and watch the news on a daily basis this website adds a nice twist to the normal articles. All the people that post on the blog site are amateur authors; therefore, they aren’t necessarily the most creditable writers. However, this doesn’t have an effect on the number of people who view the site. The wide variety of authors who post their writings on the Gawker blog, take some ordinary news articles that aren’t necessarily top news stories and spice them up with their own touch of humor.
The main subject of this blog is media gossip. All the posted items are designed to make fun of either a previous article that has been written by a professional author or ridiculous acquisitions that people have publicly made. They all start with intriguing and sometimes profane titles that definitely grab the readers’ attention. I think one of the purposes of this blog site is to humor the public. With some of the articles there are humorous pictures or videos that are eye catching as well. The main audience for these articles is teenagers to middle-aged adults who enjoy reading newspapers and media magazines. It attracts teens because there are quite a few stories about some of the latest and greatest celebrities.
This site is set up in its own original format. At the top there are a few subjects you can choose from if you are looking for something in particular, such as Tom Cruise, media, gossip, pop culture, and publicity stunts. Also, above every article title there is a category name so you know what it falls under. Below each individual article is a display of the time and day it was posted and who posted it. Under that it says how many other people have viewed the post and it gives a link you can click to read some comments the viewers have written. It is humorous to read the entertaining comments, ideas or even questions that viewers have written. There are a couple Louis Vuitton ads on the top and side. Also, on the left side there is a complete list of the ‘Gawker Team,’ consisting of the managing editor, media reporters and four of the top bloggers. All of their email addresses are listed as well so you can send them suggestions or comments on their work. There is also a link called tip your editor.
Gawker is updated constantly by a lot of different people, most of who have previously posted on it. On the title bar of the Gawker site there is an update of when the last item was posted and how many items have been posted within the last 24 hours, which I have seen hit as high as 70 and as low as 4. I’ve noticed that throughout the week is when there seems to be the most new posts.
In conclusion, this blog site, although created by amateur authors, is already very popular among media gurus but is still on the rise. It shows other ordinary citizens’ views and opinions on professional media articles and/or celebrities by looking at things from a different perspective while adding humor. Also, it contains articles that don’t ever make it to the public media but most people hear about from other sites on the internet. For example, Chris Crocker the man who publicly defended Britney Spears on YouTube has recently made a new video which has been posted on Gawker with a story to follow. For all of you who like to read news and celebrity bashing articles this is a good blog site to check out.