One of the early slogans for Gawker’s sports site, Deadspin, was “News Without Access, Favor, or Discretion.” To Denton that slogan wasn’t just branding. “I would own those words,” he would say later, under oath. If there was ever a statement that reflected both the man and his monster, this was it, because this wasn’t just Denton’s character, this was his editorial policy, too. A close friend would describe Denton as “completely unsentimental, contradictory, and opaque.” To some journalists, lacking access or discretion would be a weakness. In Gawker’s model, they are shackles to throw off.
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