Richard Lawson over at Gawker writes:

Pretty-boy cottage blog mogul David Hauslaib has shuttered his flagship gossip site, Jossip. It had been for sale since last March, but apparently no one wants to buy a blog in these worrisome times.

Well, the technical term for the shut down is a “hiatus,” but both of the site’s editors, Cord Jefferson and Drew Grant, have been fired, Grant tells us. At least she has another gig lined up, over at the axed media types complaint haus, ASSME.org

Earlier this year Hauslaib jettisoned two other under-performing titles, Hollywood rag Mollygood and “urban” fetishist Stereohyped. The mini-empire’s gay site Queerty will continue to putter along, as it’s continued to attract, despite its hideous new redesign, a loyal base of underwear model fans and reactionary hissy-fit throwers.

Media Editor the Huffington Post, Danny Shea, taking a tip from Jossip‘s David Hauslaib, decided that naming singer Rihanna as an assault victim of Chris Brown‘s wasn’t journalistic. Wasn’t ethical? Wasn’t what they teach in the ol’ j-school. So Shea called the staffer than penned the piece Andrew Blankstein, and he actually picked up the phone.

Blankstein attempted to explain the LAT policy and said something to the effect that it’s sexual assault victims aren’t usually named to protect their privacy. This translated into a ‘look she wasn’t raped’ type quote – put succinctly in the phrase “fair game” and put in 70-point print at the top of the Media Section on Huffington Post.

As for what one learns in j-school, Blankstein said,”They teach you not to re-report other people’s stories.” And continued,”Look, I’m not an internet snob.”

As for naming the assault victim – famous and adored or not – that’s the way news is reported.

“He obviously doesn’t read the metro section.” Blankstein said of Shea.

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