Jezebel.com & the online niche it fills

 have to admit that I am addicted to Jezebel.com.  It, along with its companion site, Gawker, is among the websites that must visit every day.  In fact, I have started abandoning the major news sites (mostly because readers’ comments became utterly depressing, especially on articles that involved women or minorities) and get most of my news from Jezebel and Gawker.  Interestingly, I think their evolution has been the opposite of sites such as women.com.

Gawker.com started as a gossip site, focusing mainly on New York.  They introduced Gawker Stalker, which allowed users to map sightings of celebrities within the city.  Their commenting system, which (unfortunately) changed within the past year, required a “trial” period in which potential posters would have to “prove” themselves worthy of contributing to the site.  And most people visited to Gawker to read the comments.  Gawker became (in)famous for the snarky observations of their commenters, and wit reigned supreme (and, if you were lucky, the distinction of accruing the coveted “Comment of the Day”.  However, the site evolved from a mere gossip rag to a legitimate news source that reposted stories of national and international interest.  And the comments evolved, too, and were often insightful and informative – but still snarky.  Users could star and heart other users, which would elevate their status on the site.

Jezebel was created as the sister site of Gawker, and its purpose was to provide the news from a feminist perspective.  (A few other sites have spun off from Gawker, such as Lifehacker, which deals with practical, day-to-day issues, and Deadspin, which focuses on sports.)  Jezebel  presents issues intelligently but with humor and wit.  This is not to say that Jezebel does not retain some of Gawker’s original vision as a gossip site: they report a daily “Dirt Bag” column with all the latest celebrity news, but the site has been extremely critical of figures such as Chris Brown and Charlie.  And because their focus is on women, they often report on stories that have been overlooked or underreported by the major news outlets.

Here is a sampling of their headlines from the past few days:

“Registered Sex Offender Has Now Been Arrested an Absurd 169 Times”

“Indians Not Too Thrilled with Oprah’s Cliché-Riddled Series About India”

“Sally Ride’s Obituary Announces She Was a Lesbian”

“Racial Gap Between Teens Having High-Risk Sex Is Closing, Reports The CDC”

“Teen Cancer Patient Can’t Get Chemo Because She’s Nine Weeks Pregnant — But She Can’t Get an Abortion, Either”

As previously stated, Gawker, Jezebel, and the other associated sites have changed their commenting system in the past year, and users no longer have to prove their worthiness to post – anyone can contribute.  This caused problems, particularly on Jezebel, which garnered a slew of misogynistic posts.  For example, in a recent article about domestic violence, one particular commenter posted a number of pictures of badly battered women, and the site’s moderators had trouble removing the images quickly enough.

I think Jezebel has found a balance between traditional women’s sites, like the site Women.com evolved into, and legitimate discourse about issues effecting women: health, politics, religion, inequity in the workplace, sexual assault, and news stories of general interest.  Yes, they still publish stories about celebrities and they review products in a similar fashion to that of traditional women’s magazines, but these articles only account for a small percentage of their total stories.  And while the site still retains the “snarkiness” that catapulted Gawker to fame, the discussions are often insightful and enlightening.

Despite its shortcomings, I appreciate Jezebel and the online niche that it fills. 

Blog.jezebel.com

[And no, I am not getting any kickbacks for posting this endorsement of Jezebel! J]

Hayley