Removal of controversial post leads exec editor and editor-in-chief of Gawker to resign

Top editors at Gawker Media have resigned from the company, not because of shame over a recent posting, but because the management of the company removed the posting, presumably to defend Gawker's advertising base. 

Tommy Craggs, the executive edtior and Max Read, the editor-in-chief, said the removal was an indefensible breach of the firewall between editorial and business interests. Craggs memo to staff noted that major advertisers such as Discover and BFGoodrich were either putting their advertising campaigns on hold or pulling out entirely. He said that the management decision showed that "the true power over editorial resides in the whims of four cringing members of the managing partnership's Fear and Money Caucus." 

Read said the decision to remove the post was an "absolute surrender of Gawker's claim to 'radical transparency'". 

"I am able to do this job to the extent that I can believe that the people in charge are able, when faced with difficult decisions, to back up their stated commitments to transparency, fearlessness, and editorial independence. In the wake of Friday’s decision and Tommy’s resignation I can no longer sustain that belief. I find myself forced to resign, effective immediately."