Interview: Noah Robischon

Gawker
By: Annie Li

For those who spend life outside of school on the computer, blogging has become a daily routine in addition to checking emails and hanging out on Facebook. What do blogs offer? They offer the personal and interactive touch that's accessible nowhere else, not to mention the opportunity for anyone, anywhere, to achieve a global audience with a shoestring budget. Fifteen of the Internet’s biggest publications – from Gizmodo to Defamer, are managed by Gawker Media, which also publishes the eponymous Gawker. These websites are where more than 30 million readers stake their territories every month.

The managing editor of the Gawker Media Network is Noah Robischon, who’s been an editor and writer for nine years. His works appear in The New York Times, Business 2.0, Stuff, GQ, People and Entertainment Weekly, where he worked as a senior writer for five years. For those who just happen to watch New York 1 News, he does a Digital Living Review each week.

My Interview with Noah Robischon


1. What inspired you to go into writing and blogging?

I started my career in radio and documentary filmmaking. The lure of online media is that it combines writing, video and sound in new ways.

2. Please share with us your experience with Gawker Media and the things you've learned from being in this job.

It's a world apart from the glacial pace of mainstream media. The days are fast-paced, exciting, and I go home feeling that something has been accomplished.

3. What do you like most about your job?

Working with the editors and writers in our network of blogs.

4. What is the most difficult aspect of your job?

Working with the editors and writers in our network of blogs.

5. Can you give us some insight into your day-to-day life as Managing Editor of Gawker?

This morning I handled a reader complaint, worked with developers on a new design element that will appear on the sidebar of every site, gave an editor notes on yesterday's posts, estimated next month's budget numbers, and created an account for a new writer.

6. What's the best way to get into the writing/journalism field?

Network with peers. Keep pitching yourself and your stories, and don't be afraid of getting turned down.

7. As technology continues to develop, what role do you think blogs and Internet publications will play in the media sphere?

Blogs in some form will be the dominant force in daily news coverage. Readers are already shifting away from print and television to online. It's more participatory and accessible than any other medium.

8. Many people are apprehensive towards information on the Internet due to user-provided content. How does this trend impact your work and industry?

Reader participation is a blessing more than a curse, but it does have drawbacks at times. Still, I prefer having active readers and dealing with those problems than being alienated from readers the way writers are at many print publications.

9. Just for fun, please share a high school memory with us.

I played Scrooge in my HS production of A Christmas Carol.

10. Do you have any advice for the students of Martingrove?

"The best writing is rewriting." - E.B. White.