Nick Denton Says No Gawker Story Was Ever as Inaccurate as NYT Iraq Reporting

Denton slams newspaper for reporting “Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction”

Nick Denton / Credit: HuffPost Live

Gawker founder Nick Denton said he “absolutely” regrets publishing some stories, but  doesn’t feel the consequences are as serious as a mistake the New York Times made.

“I don’t think we’ve ever made a misstep as big as say the New York Times’ reporting of Saddam Hussein‘s weapons of mass destruction,” Denton told Time. “We haven’t gotten anybody into any wars. But we’ve absolutely made mistakes.”

“If you’re not making some [mistakes], you’re probably not doing your job,” he added during the interview.

The New York Times famously reported that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which is why George W. Bush invaded the Middle Eastern nation. WMDs were never found at the conclusion of the war, but several reports since then have indicated that they did exist at some point.

Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month after being hit with a $140 million verdict in the Peter Thiel-funded lawsuit brought against it by Hulk Hogan. Shortly after announcing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Gawker entered into an asset purchase agreement to sell its seven media brands to Ziff Davis.

When asked about Thiel-funded litigation, Denton said that he plans “to win all of those cases.”

Either way, he doesn’t see billionaires funding lawsuits intended to takedown media outlets going forward because of the criticism that Thiel has faced.

“He and his secret scheme have all been exposed,” Denton said. “He has been embarrassed.”

He also says that Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Deadspin, Jezebel make up the majority of Gawker Media Group’s traffic and Gawker.com is only the biggest name because “media people are so obsessed” with it.

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