Elizabeth Spiers (born December 11, 1976) is an American web publisher and journalist, the founding editor of Gawker, a media gossip blog.
Contents
From February 2011 until August 2012 she was the editor of The New York Observer . [1]
Elizabeth Spiers (born December 11, 1976) is an American web publisher and journalist, the founding editor of Gawker, a media gossip blog.
From February 2011 until August 2012 she was the editor of The New York Observer . [1]
Spiers was born in Wetumpka, Alabama. She attended Edgewood Academy, which she later characterized as a segregation academy. [2]
After graduating from Duke University in 1999 with a degree in public policy, Spiers headed to Wall Street to work in finance, but soon became involved in the fast-growing blog industry.
Spiers started to work in journalism as the founding editor of Gawker.com and later became a contributing writer and editor at New York magazine. She has written for The New York Times , Salon , Fortune , Fast Company and The New York Post, among other publications, and was an early blogger at GNXP. [3]
She worked briefly after that as the editor-in-chief of mediabistro.com, a site offering resources for media professionals. Since then, Spiers has founded a number of blog sites through her company, Dead Horse Media (as in the proverb "don't beat a dead horse"). The New York Times' DealBook wrote of her in 2006, "It is clear that an online empire is on Elizabeth Spiers's mind." [4] Dead Horse Media has produced Dealbreaker, a gossip website about Wall Street; AbovetheLaw , a blog about law; Fashionista , a gossip site about fashion; and Supermogul, a now defunct business management site. Spiers left Dead Horse Media abruptly on April 19, 2007, citing differences with her partners over launching new properties, according to BusinessWeek . [5]
Jared Kushner hired Spiers as the editor of The New York Observer in February 2011. [6] She resigned from the paper in August 2012. [1] Spiers was the editorial director of Flavorwire from 2012 to 2016. [7]
The New York Observer was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper Observer. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment and publishing industries.
New York is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.
Wonkette is an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox. The editor since 2012 is Rebecca Schoenkopf, formerly of OC Weekly. Wonkette covers U.S. politics in a satirical manner.
Charles Kushner is an American real estate developer and disbarred former attorney. He founded Kushner Companies in 1985.
Gawker was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in 2002, Gawker was the flagship blog for Denton's Gawker Media. Gawker Media also managed other blogs such as Jezebel, io9, Deadspin and Kotaku.
Gawker Media LLC was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, as of 2012, Gawker Media was the parent company for seven different weblogs and many subsites under them: Gawker.com, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik, and Jezebel. All Gawker articles are licensed on a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial license. In 2004, the company renamed from Blogwire, Inc. to Gawker Media, Inc., and to Gawker Media LLC shortly after.
Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist, and blogger. He is the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York City-based Gawker, until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea bankrupted the company.
Radar Online is an American entertainment and gossip website that was first published as a print and online publication in September 2003 before becoming exclusively online. As of 2008, the magazine has been owned by the publisher American Media Inc. American Media's former Chief Content Officer, Dylan Howard, oversaw the publication until 2020.
Melissa (Lafsky) Saleh is an American writer and entrepreneur. She began her career as a writer by founding the Opinionistas blog, which focused on the dehumanizing aspects of working at large law firms. She then entered digital journalism, writing for media brands like the Huffington Post and launching sites for Newsweek and the New York Times. She then moved to Silicon Valley and became a startup founder.
Jared Paul Stern is an American writer who currently serves as the Executive Editor for Maxim Magazine, where his byline has appeared since 2015. He had previously served as editor, publisher, photographer, designer, reporter and columnist for the New York Post and other publications. He contributed to the popular "Page Six" column for more than 10 years.
Valleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, the blog was taken over by Owen Thomas. Thomas left in May 2009, and was replaced by Ryan Tate.
Jared Corey Kushner is an American businessman, investor, and former government official. He is the son-in-law of former president Donald Trump through his marriage to Ivanka Trump, and served as a senior advisor to Trump from 2017 to 2021. He was also Director of the Office of American Innovation.
Maggie Shnayerson is an American journalist and blogger. She was an editor at Gawker Media's flagship site, Gawker.com and has written for TIME magazine, the New York Sun, and the New York Post. Before joining Gawker, Shnayerson was the public relations director for the Village Voice and the New York Sun.
Karlie Elizabeth Kloss is an American fashion model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2013 until 2015 when she resigned to study at New York University. By 2019, Kloss had appeared on 40 international Vogue covers.
Jezebel is a US-based website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. It was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media under the editorship of Anna Holmes as a feminist counterpoint to traditional women's magazines.
Owen Thomas is an American blogger, journalist, and entrepreneur who serves as managing editor of the San Francisco Business Times.
Kenneth Kurson is an American political consultant, writer, journalist, and former musician, who was editor-in-chief of The New York Observer between 2013 and 2017. In 2020 he was charged by federal prosecutors with cyberstalking and harassment, for which he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2021. In February 2022, Kurson pleaded guilty to state misdemeanor criminal charges of attempted eavesdropping and computer trespass related to his divorce.
Sarah Ellison is a reporter for The Washington Post. Previously, she served as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, where she covered politics, culture, and media. Ellison is a regular commentator on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and other news outlets. She is also a frequent guest on programs such as WNYC, PBS NewsHour, and Democracy Now!
Observer Media is an American online media company. The company was formed through several acquisitions, including acquisition of The New York Observer in 2007. Observer Media is based in Lower Manhattan, New York City, and was owned by businessman Jared Kushner until 2016, when he transferred his ownership into a family trust, through which his brother-in-law Joseph Meyer took over his former role as publisher and chairman in 2017. It currently publishes the Commercial Observer and Observer. As of November 2016, Observer Media announced it would no longer print the New York Observer. The Observer site is a consolidation of several notable online properties, including The Gallerist, BetaBeat, NY Politicker, and PolitickerNJ.
The Kushner family is an American family involved in real estate development. The family originated from Novogrudok, [Belarus], and is based in the New York metropolitan area. After surviving the Holocaust and settling in the United States, Joseph Kushner developed a portfolio of 4,000 apartments. He left the business to his sons, Murray and Charles Kushner, who worked together before having a falling out over business and personal matters. Charles, a convicted felon, owns Kushner Companies and Murray owns the Kushner Real Estate Group. The net worth of Charles' family has been estimated at over $1 billion. Jared Kushner, Charles' son, was senior advisor to President Donald Trump.