'Gawker' Editors Resign After Post Outing Exec Is Pulled

Gawker Media Executive Editor Tommy Craggs and Gawker Editor-in-Chief Max Read resigned on Monday (July 20th) after a controversial post outing Conde Nast CFO David Geithner was taken down at the direction of company management on Friday (July 17th), one day after it went up, with the two saying they can no longer guarantee Gawker's editorial integrity.

The post alleged that the married Geithner had tried to set up a hotel room hook-up with a gay escort and porn star, but canceled it after the man figured out that Geithner is the brother of former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and asked for his help in a housing dispute.

When Geithner wouldn't help, according to the story, the escort went to Gawker with his claim.

The post was widely criticized for unjustifiably outing Geithner -- who denies the story is true -- and Gawker management, including founder Nick Denton, decided to take it down, which Craggs and Read denounced as violating editorial independence.

Read had tweeted in defense of the story on Friday: "Given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies f***king around on their wives." ("C-suite" is a term used to describe top senior executives.)