Wonkette
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wonkette | |
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| URL | www.wonkette.com |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Blog |
| Owner | Ken Layne |
| Created by | Nick Denton, Ana Marie Cox, Alex Pareene, David Lat, Ken Layne, John Clark Jr, Jim Newell, Megan Carpentier |
Wonkette is a blog that details the goings-on of the political establishment in Washington, DC. The site focuses heavily on gossip, humor, and the downfall of the powerful, as well as more serious matters of politics or policy, almost exclusively from a left-leaning perspective.
Ana Marie Cox, a former editor at suck.com, was the founding editor. Under her tenure, Wonkette was known for its sharp, sarcastic, intelligent voice, and for its mixture of heady political discourse with repeated references to gin and anal sex. The blog gained national media attention after Cox publicized the story of Jessica Cutler aka "Washingtonienne", a former Hill staffer who wrote on her blog about her affair with a member of former Senator Mike DeWine's staff.
Cox announced her retirement as Wonkette's editor on January 5, 2006 in order to promote her book, "Dog Days". She was succeeded by David Lat, the author of Underneath Their Robes, a blog about the federal judiciary, and Alex Pareene, a 21-year-old dropout from New York University and Gawker intern/guest editor in New York who moved to DC for the Wonkette position.
After the publication of "Dog Days," Cox began blogging at her personal website. The site includes biographical information about Cox as well as information about her novel but also includes her off-the-cuff blog entries, written in much the same style as she used at Wonkette.com. She occasionally contributed to Wonkette.com until she joined the staff of Time magazine to contribute a D.C. feature in the magazine and write for Time's blog.
In June 2006, Lat announced his decision to leave Wonkette. His slot was to be filled by guest editors until August 2006, when Gawker blogger Ken Layne joined as permanent guest editor. Layne became West Coast bureau editor officially before the November midterm elections. Wonkette reached its highest traffic during the midterm elections due to scandal coverage of Mark Foley and other incumbents involved in corruption, sex-abuse and bribery scandals.
In October 2007, Pareene announced that he would be leaving the site in order to work for Gawker Media out of New York City and Layne left the site shortly afterwards as well. John Clarke, Jr. - formerly of the New York Times and Variety - briefly took over as the site's editor mid-October, with Jim Newell, formerly of IvyGate, and Megan Carpentier, formerly the anonymous author of the "Ask a Lobbyist" column, serving as associate editors. Greg Wasserstrom, a perennial intern, contributed heavily to the site until Ken Layne returned as Wonkette's managing editor in January 2008.
Within weeks of his return, Layne fired associate editor Megan Carpentier and returned Wasserstrom to a smaller role. The two founded splinter site Cynics' Party soon after with Hunter Walker of Gawker Media's Gridskipper.
Elise Rosen and Justin Charity currently contribute as interns. Columns by Princess Sparkle Pony and the Comics Curmudgeon are regularly featured, along with video by Liz Glover. Eric C. Brewer is video editor. Former interns include Nick Mueller and Lauren Spohrer, now at Columbia University.
On April 14, 2008 Gawker Media announced that it was selling Wonkette to Ken Layne. Gawker Media head Nick Denton attributed the sale to "hunkering down" before another dot com downturn and the internet bubble bursts: "And, even if not, better safe than sorry; and better too early than too late..."[[1]]
[edit] References
- Bosman, Julie. "First With the Scoop, if Not the Truth", The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 2004-04-18. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
[edit] External links
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The external links in this article may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. |
- Wonkette
- Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows - introduction of Editors Lat and Pareene
- Alex Pareene
- Ken Layne
- Greg Wasserstrom
- Justin Charity
- Megan Carpentier
- Cynics' Party
[edit] Cox era
- Cox's Wonkette post announcing her "ascension to Wonkette Emeritus"
- Washington Post's article on Cox's retirement from Wonkette
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