5:49 p.m. | Updated Gawker Media is getting a change in leadership. A.J. Daulerio, who became the editor of Gawker just over a year ago, is leaving and will be replaced by the writer John Cook.

Nick Denton, the founder and owner of Gawker Media, confirmed the moves in an e-mail to New York Magazine on Thursday. In an internal memo, Mr. Denton said that Mr. Daulerio’s tenure at Gawker “has been much like him: bold, infuriating, unpredictable … and often brilliant.” Mr. Denton called Mr. Cook “a surprisingly powerful opinion writer and a gossip of the most refined kind.”

Mr. Daulerio was named the head of Gawker in late November of 2011, replacing Remy Stern. He had moved up from his post as the editor of Deadspin, the company’s sports and men’s lifestyle site.

Mr. Cook has been working as a reporter at Gawker after previously being at Yahoo.

Here is the text of Mr. Denton’s memo to the staff:

AJ’s tenure at Gawker has been much like him: bold, infuriating, unpredictable… and often brilliant. He’s brought out work as compelling as Adrian Chen’s expose of Reddit’s most notorious troll; he’s drawn in new talents like Caity Weaver and Neetzan Zimmerman; and he’s melded both the writers he inherited and new hires into the strongest editorial team Gawker has ever seen. I don’t know how he does it.

I mean, I really don’t fully understand: AJ breaks all the usual rules of orthodox management and has still been the most successful editor of Gawker.com. (As a former editor of the site myself, I’m slightly piqued.)

Hamilton’s series on the pain of unemployment, the Bain files, web and hacker culture, Trayvon Martin, Rich’s fearlessly honest discussion of gaydom: all made possible by AJ. Even though AJ took the pressure off writers to deliver traffic with every piece, the site now draws 10m visitors a month.

It’s a testament to the power of encouragement.

And that’s why he’s passing the role to someone on the team. Continuity is our priority.

John Cook is the most experienced reporter on the team, a surprisingly powerful opinion writer and a gossip of the most refined kind. 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.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/daulerio-is-leaving-as-gawker-editor/?partner=rss&emc=rss