Gawker has named Nitasha Tiku a senior writer. Tiku comes to the site from The New York Observer’s BetaBeat. She had been with the Observer for almost two years. Prior to her time there, Tiku contributed to New York’s Daily Intelligencer.

In a memo obtained by Jim Romenesko, John Cook, editor of Gawker, said of Tiku, “She brings deep knowledge and extensive sources on the tech beat, and so will certainly be helping us deflate egos and mock stupidity and expose fraud in that arena. But she is a prodigiously talented reporter and merciless intellect, and will take on all manner of stories, long and fast, for us.”

You can read Cook’s full note over at Romenesko’s site.

Nick Denton, the man behind the Gawker Media empire, schooled some people today. Pay attention now, students.

The First Lesson: Headlines 101, Bitch. Denton sent a memo (as in, posted it on Gawker) that said the company’s writers were too long-winded with their headlines. Beginning tomorrow, all Gawker posts must have headlines of 70 characters or under. Or else!

“Our wordy headlines are a growing disadvantage,” wrote Denton. “That’s why from tomorrow we’re going to warn you in the Kinja editor to keep your headlines below 70 characters — and we’re going to only display 70 characters on the front page even if you go longer.”

The Second Lesson: Google 210, Mothef*ckers. The savvy Denton noted that the reason for the headline change was that Google cuts headlines off at 70 characters, and pieces with longer headlines won’t get as much traffic as shorter ones. ”Google demotes search results that don’t get clicked on,” the media maven explained.

Class is dismissed, fools.

Deadspin has flipped over to the Kinja format, and its readers are not happy about it. Kinja, according to Deadpin’s editor, Tommy Craggs, “break[s] down the wall between readers and writers” by essentially asking readers to create their own blogs using the platform, which Deadspin could use as well:

Your blog will look like any other in the Kinjaverse, including ours. As I say, you’ll have access to all the same tools, which include fun new toys like image annotation (more on which later). Any Kinja user can follow you. With the push of a button, you can republish stories from our site; we’ll likewise be able to republish stories from yours. Some of you may have some (justifiable) proprietary concerns about this arrangement. Don’t worry: You’ll get the byline, the credit, and the traffic.

In other words, Deadspin gets to mine readers’ creations and enjoy the traffic that rolls in and readers get to… Blog. You can see why Deadspin’s readers are a little annoyed. As one commenter explained, “If you use our stuff, we don’t get paid.” Craggs is quick to point out that “for now” republishing is only a link and a bit of text, but the countdown until Deadspin uses bloggers’ entire posts has officially begun.

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Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. NRA President Attacks The Journal News, Gawker, for Publishing Gun Owners’ Information, January 10

2. Top New York Times Editors Prepare for Shakeup, January 11

3. Chris Christie Upset About His Time Cover, January 14

4. Cover Battle: GQ or Time, January 10

5. Layoffs Hit Reuters, January 15

6. Rupert Murdoch is Puzzled by Women’s Fall, Assumes She’s Poor and Abusing Welfare, January 16

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

Deadspin and Gawker have swapped managing editors. Deadspin’s managing editor, Tom Scocca, is going to Gawker; while Emma Carmichael returns to Deadspin.

As noted by Deadspin, Scocca will not take on the role of deputy editor at Gawker, reporting to new editor-in-chief, John Cook.

Here’s a look at what FishbowlNY stories made the most buzz this week.

1. New CBS Game Show Offering Editorial Assistant Job at Cosmopolitan as Top Prize, January 9

2. NRA President Attacks The Journal News, Gawker, for Publishing Gun Owners’ Information, January 10

3. Threats to Journal News Staffers Are Intense, January 7

4. Mark Simone (above) Grabs Late Morning Slot at WOR, January 7

5. Cover Battle: Businessweek or Wired

6. NYC Media Come Out for Love & Hip Hop 3 Premiere, January 4

Keep up-to-date with the latest FishbowlNY news. Click here to sign-up for the FishbowlNY daily newsletter, bringing you our articles each afternoon directly to your inbox.

The A.J. Daulerio Gawker era is coming to a close. According to New York’s Daily Intelligencer, Daulerio is stepping down as editor-in-chief of Gawker, and John Cook is succeeding him.

“John Cook is the most experienced reporter on the team, a surprisingly powerful opinion writer and a gossip of the most refined kind,” wrote Nick Denton, in a memo. “He has natural authority. John will preserve the crew and build on the success of 2012. I’m grateful to AJ for leaving Gawker in such great shape and I can’t wait to see what John and his colleagues will do in 2013. Roger Ailes’ excitement may be more muted.”

For the full Denton memo and Daulerio’s note to staffers, head over to Daily Intelligencer.

The Journal News has been under near-constant attack for publishing a list of gun owners’ names and addresses. People have threatened to shoot editors — because that makes a whole lot of sense — and more. Then Gawker, seeing all the attention the Journal News was getting, copied the paper and published its own list of New York City’s gun owners, containing just their names. And now both the Journal News and Gawker have a new common critic: David Keene, president of the NRA.

According to The New York Observer, Keene was asked about both lists while on a radio show. Keene took the opportunity to criticize the Journal News, Gawker, and — Sarah Palin fans get excited — “elite media,” whatever the hell that is:

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If you’ve already had enough holiday cheer (which means you haven’t had enough holiday alcohol), you’ll probably enjoy Gawker’s list of the 50 Least Important Writers of 2012. And we’re not saying that just because you’re in the mood to hate, but because Gawker included its own staff on the list. Well played, Gawker.

But does Gawker including its own writers on this list mean that the site actually considers all of these people the most important? After all, the fact that they’re listed means that they’re at least somewhat important. Either way, the list is a good waste of time, if you’re looking for one.

Here’s a few other writers that made the cut:

• Michael Wolff
• Chuck Klosterman
• The Entire Staff of Mediaite
• Andrea Peyser
• Matt Stopera

Sorry Mediaite.

Despite what most would think, Lena Dunham is not a fan of Gawker. In fact, she had her lawyer contact the site after Gawker published her book proposal, which fetched her a cool $3.7 million. Gawker did take down the proposal, but that wasn’t enough for Dunham.

There are still 12 lines from the proposal up on the original Gawker post, but they’re all followed by some nice legalese and fantastic summaries of what Dunham meant in the quoted line. Here’s an example:

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