Gawker, Hulk Hogan and the One Percenters’ War on News

Hulk Hogan, tool of the media-hating aristocracy? The pro wrestler is at the center of a growing uproar over media transparency and the so-called one percenters who control most of the wealth in the US. Recently it came to light that Hogan’s successful lawsuit against Gawker over his published sex tape was secretly financed by PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel. It’s the latest example of the ultra-rich secretly trying to control the flow of news and information.

Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson has insisted he isn’t influencing news coverage of the Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal – the newspaper he bought after years of clashes over stories. Weaponizing litigation is old news. GOP candidate Donald Trump is far from the first wealthy person to use the threat of lawsuits to try to intimidate critics. But now the super-rich are waging war against not just reporting but against any kind of transparency. Thiel has admitted to secretly bankrolling anti-Gawker lawsuits in an attempt to ruin the website because a sister publication, Valleywag, outed him as gay.