Nick Denton Quotes

Powerful Nick Denton for Daily Growth

About Nick Denton

Nick Denton (born April 30, 1973) is an influential British-American journalist and entrepreneur, best known for founding Gawker Media and transforming online journalism. Born in London, England, Denton moved to the United States at a young age and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in history. In 2003, Denton launched Gawker Media, an influential network of blogs known for their provocative and irreverent style. The first blog, Gawker, quickly gained notoriety for its gossip-filled stories about celebrities, media personalities, and technology industry leaders. Under Denton's leadership, Gawker Media expanded to include other popular blogs such as Jezebel, Deadspin, and Kotaku. Throughout his career, Denton has been a pioneer in the digital journalism landscape, leveraging social media and web culture to create a unique blend of journalism and entertainment. His publications have won numerous awards for their investigative reporting and commentary, including the National Magazine Award for Public Interest in 2010. However, Denton's career has been marked by controversy. In 2016, Hulk Hogan sued Gawker for publishing a sex tape, leading to the company's bankruptcy and eventual sale. Denton stepped down as CEO of Gawker Media in 2017, but continues to be involved in digital media as a writer and investor. Today, Nick Denton is recognized as one of the key figures in the development of online journalism, having helped shape the way news and entertainment are consumed on the internet. His legacy continues to influence the industry as new platforms emerge and the landscape of digital media evolves.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The best way to get attention online is to cry wolf a lot."

The quote by Nick Denton suggests that in the digital age, where attention is often scarce and competition for it is high, generating attention-grabbing content consistently is key. However, the method he implies is not necessarily honest or sustainable - he uses the analogy of "crying wolf a lot," which refers to a story from Aesop's Fables about a boy who repeatedly cried "wolf!" in vain and was eventually ignored when there was actually a wolf. Denton's quote can be interpreted as a warning against sensationalism, spamming or hyperbole in an attempt to grab attention online, which may lead to desensitization and loss of credibility in the long run.


"Journalism is about creating a narrative from chaos."

This quote suggests that journalism is the process of organizing, interpreting, and presenting complex and often disjointed information in a coherent and meaningful way, thereby creating a narrative or story. In essence, it's transforming the disorderly facts and events into a compelling and informative narrative for readers or viewers to understand and engage with.


"In the world of blogs, every post has its day – and then it's forgotten."

This quote suggests that in the vast landscape of online content (i.e., blogs), each piece of writing can garner attention for a specific period before it gradually fades into obscurity. It highlights the transient nature of digital popularity, implying that even notable or impactful posts might eventually be overlooked as new content emerges and captures people's interest.


"Blogging is a conversation, not a monologue."

The quote highlights that blogs are not merely platforms for one-way communication but rather spaces for interactive and dynamic dialogue between authors and their audience. It underscores the importance of engaging readers in discussions, encouraging feedback, and fostering a sense of community around the content being shared on a blog. This approach can lead to more meaningful connections with the audience, increased understanding, and ultimately, stronger relationships built upon mutual respect and collaboration.


"Good writing is clear thinking made visible."

This quote by Nick Denton suggests that well-written work, in any medium, showcases a mind that is thoroughly thought through and organized. The act of putting thoughts into words requires clarity and coherence, hence, good writing serves as a reflection of clear thinking. It implies that the quality of one's written work can be indicative of their intellectual abilities and critical reasoning skills. Moreover, it suggests that effective communication, whether written or spoken, often begins with a well-structured thought process.


The most interesting comments, they don't come from people with Klout scores. They don't come from people with a history on our sites.

- Nick Denton

Comments, Most, Scores, Sites

Three-quarters of our sites - Kotaku, Gawker, Jezebel, Deadspin, Gizmodo, Lifehacker - are led by editors who built their careers within Gawker Media. That's the career path.

- Nick Denton

Career, Three-Quarters, Sites

It irritates me that everybody concentrates on Gawker, because it's just one of 15 sites and it doesn't even get the most traffic. It's a significant site, but it's not what we are.

- Nick Denton

Everybody, Significant, Sites

Henry Blodget does occasionally have a new idea. If you're making a point about aggregation or the emptiness of modern journalism, he's far from the best target. Try Huffpo - or Gawker writers whose souls have been corroded by irony.

- Nick Denton

Idea, Been, About, Emptiness

Jonah Peretti is one of the smartest web publishers out there. And Buzzfeed is an aggressive and dynamic company.

- Nick Denton

Web, Publishers, Jonah, Aggressive

Ben Smith's quick-hit campaign 'scoops' are about as viral as cat videos. That fits with Buzzfeed.

- Nick Denton

Cat, About, Smith, Viral

It's no wonder that new ventures such as The Daily look first to Gawker Media when staffing up. We should not wait for a poaching expedition to pay someone what they deserve. I apologize if that has been the case and will do better in 2012.

- Nick Denton

Wait, Been, Expedition, Apologize

I think people are sort of waking up to it now, how probably the biggest change in Internet media isn't the immediacy of it, or the low costs, but the measurability. Which is actually terrifying if you're a traditional journalist, and used to pushing what people ought to like, or what you think they ought to like.

- Nick Denton

Media, I Think, Terrifying, Immediacy

Personally, as a print journalist, I always found the most interesting stories to be the ones hacks talked about in the bar after work.

- Nick Denton

Work, Always, Stories, Interesting Stories

I have to come to terms with the paternalism of American business. Companies are expected to take on so many social responsibilities which are the province of the state in Europe.

- Nick Denton

Business, Social, Which, Province

While I love the medium, I've always been skeptical about the value of blogs as businesses.

- Nick Denton

Love, Always, Been, Skeptical

I've never really understood people who climb socially by sucking up. It seems like the least efficient way to climb, and also the most psychologically debilitating.

- Nick Denton

Like, Sucking, Socially, Psychologically

You know how the best story angles often spring from that thought you have on reading an article or watching a show - that thought you have before the responsible journalist in you comes up with something boring. I usually recommend people get in touch with their deep 'reptilian brain.'

- Nick Denton

Deep, Thought, Angles, Article

Google demotes search results that don't get clicked on.

- Nick Denton

Search, Google, Get, Clicked

Web media needs to move to TV metaphor - with full-screen imagery and other content interrupted with full-screen ads.

- Nick Denton

Needs, Move, Ads, Interrupted

We believe that the best Web content optimization strategy is something as old as journalism itself: the shocking truth and the authentic opinion.

- Nick Denton

Best, Believe, Old, Shocking

My background is economics and maths. I think one of the reasons I studied humanities at all, or even went into journalism, is because, like, science and maths wasn't cool in England when I was growing up. No one ever talked to the engineering students at Oxford.

- Nick Denton

I Think, Reasons, Maths, Journalism

I want to institutionalise and automate chequebook journalism.

- Nick Denton

Want, Journalism

Critics say Internet advertising suffers from limitless inventory, which depresses prices. These exclusive front-page sponsorships are not limitless. If HBO doesn't move quickly enough, Showtime can buy out Gawker and Jezebel for the key fall TV season. On any individual day, there isn't room for both of them; and that's healthy.

- Nick Denton

Buy, TV, Quickly, Season

I don't really mind playing tabloid monster. I always liked those characters in the old movies.

- Nick Denton

Mind, Always, Tabloid, Old Movies

The original idea of blog publishing was that writer and reader would be on the same level. That it would be a conversation - not a lecture. People lost sight of that. We didn't. Kinja is designed to break down the walls of the ghettos. So that everybody - editor, writer, source, subject, expert, fan - can be a contributor.

- Nick Denton

Expert, Idea, Everybody, Same Level

Relentless and cynical traffic-trawling is bad for the soul.

- Nick Denton

Soul, Bad, Relentless, Cynical

Apple makes beautiful products. I own a Mac Pro, a Mac Book, a Mac Mini, an iPad, an iPhone, pretty much the entire collection.

- Nick Denton

Own, Pretty, Mini, iPad

The idea of harnessing the intelligence of the readership has been lost in the quest for Facebook likes. For many, readers have become synonymous with hateful commenters. It's time for a renewed push to realize some of the original dreams of the web.

- Nick Denton

Original, Some, Been, Synonymous

I regret the stories we didn't do - the stories that we knew about and talked about but didn't have all of, so didn't publish. The whole idea of Gawker was to remove the barrier between the thought and the talk - and the page.

- Nick Denton

Regret, Thought, Stories, Remove

There was a rivalry - and some pie-throwing. But that was probably because Gawker and Radar had more in common than they wanted to admit. Each was the other's future. Radar served up the exclusives I always envied. Gawker was actually comfortable on the web, in the medium Radar should have made its own.

- Nick Denton

Own, Some, Other, Radar

Google and others truncate headlines at 70 characters. On the Manti Teo story, Deadspin's scoop fell down the Google search results, overtaken by copycat stories with simpler headlines. Deadspin's headline was 118 characters. Vital information - 'hoax' - was one of the words that was cut off.

- Nick Denton

Down, Cut, Scoop, Headlines

As a print journalist, if you hear a rumour you try to stand it up and if you can't, the story dies. With a blog you can throw the rumour out there and ask for help. You can say: 'We don't know if this is true or not.'

- Nick Denton

Blog, Say, Rumour, Dies

You could argue that as web audiences have grown larger and advertisers have demanded scale, the web has dumbed down - like the mainstream media we so mocked.

- Nick Denton

Like, Larger, Mocked, Mainstream Media

An employer would be a complete fool to let an image like college partying influence their hiring decisions.

- Nick Denton

College, Image, Would, Complete

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