Well, there is that elephant in the room.
It would be entertaining if it weren't so sad for all the parties involved.
Synopsis: Jeff Glucker was a writer for Autoblog and had a side gig for a PR firm with Nissan as a client. Glucker posted a piece on Autoblog about Nissan without disclosing his relationship with Nissan. Jalopnik, Autoblog's competitor, dramatically and very publicly outed Glucker's conflict of interest. Autoblog, in damage control mode, quickly fired Glucker.
At least one writer for The Truth About Cars, a much smaller car blog with a very devoted following, has been aggressively injecting himself into the fracas, calling both Autoblog and Jalopnik out as shills for the auto industry.
Hooniverse, which Glucker had a large role in creating and developing, has been, so far, silent on the issue.
We can all agree that Glucker's lapse in judgment was significant. That he was fired may have been an overreaction.
The dust has not settled yet. Just remember to duck.
4 comments:
A small reminder of why I don't miss visiting any of those sites.
@midelectric: Jalopnik is a hard habit to break for many of us.
The unending string of bugs on Gawker sites is pretty much incredible for such a large and monied organization. The level of writing has plummeted as well. Remember the "Incredible Bicycle Gas Canister Trailer" from a few weeks ago? They're not even trying anymore.
hooniverse has not been entirely silent on the matter.. you just need to read the tea leaves in the jalopnik comments ;)
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