How the Gawker Trial Was the Gateway to Trump: Examining a political legacy, ten years on.

About this episode

The episode examines the political legacy of the Gawker trial and its implications ten years later, focusing on Peter Thiel's response to media coverage of his sexuality.

In 2007, Valleywag, Gawker’s gossip column devoted to Silicon Valley, published a short piece about a then-little-known venture capitalist and tech founder, under the headline “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.” Thiel’s sexuality wasn’t a secret, nor was the piece mocking. “Peter Thiel, the smartest VC in the world, is gay,” it read. “More power to him.” But it was the first time this information was made public, and Thiel didn’t welcome the attention. He vowed privately to get revenge on V...

People in this episode

Host: Columbia Journalism Review

Topics covered

• Gawker trial
• Peter Thiel
• political legacy
• media influence
• Silicon Valley
• revenge
• journalism

Keywords

• Gawker
• Peter Thiel
• Silicon Valley
• media
• politics
• journalism
• revenge

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Gawker, Valleywag

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