We Want Media

Tonight was round two of our classroom interviews. Choire Sicha sat down with us; he’s the “Managing Editor” of Gawker, but he doesn’t really like the title. After an 18 month hiatus, Sicha returned to the position after writing for the New York Observer.

For an hour, Sicha mused on subjects as varied as reporter dodging to how to find your voice as a writer, all very useful to us aspiring journalists.

He’s got the worldly experience to back it up, too. Sicha has been a barista in San Francisco, hero of the homeless shelter, temped at an agency, and was a porn writer and a paralegal, just to name a few of his past jobs.

“Learn a trade,” he advises, alluding to the shaky retirement plans (or lack thereof) in the blogging industry. “I’ll be a paralegal again!”

For now, at least, his job security isn’t at risk. Gawker’s hot, but Sicha’s reluctant to admit it. “I’m in love with everyone who writes it,” he says.

How does Gawker stay hot? By constantly changing it up; we’ve seen time and time again that staleness spells death for a blog.

In Sicha’s terminology: “Being expected is the worst crime you can commit.”

As for Gawker’s competitors, there are none in Sicha’s eyes. His logic makes sense. Even though sites like Jossip are on the same beat, Sicha explains, “In print, competition is what you need to succeed. But on the web, people succeed together.”

The more people drawn to a topic area, and with the way blog networking works, the more the area grows. “More is better,” he says. “I sound like a hippy.”

What’s next for Gawker? “We’re going to cover the frozen yogurt and soft-serve industry into the ground,” jokes Sicha. “Seriously, I’d like to have a courthouse reporter. There’s nothing better in New York than what goes down in there.”

He’s not joking when he says “you could fill a whole magazine with that stuff.” With that in place, Gawker would certainly gain an even stronger hold on the NYC forefront.

With the ever growing force that is Gawker Media, expect to see a lot more from Sicha and Co. in the future. His final lesson: Be a stickler, and have fun.