blog-stained wretches

Gawker Paid $1,000 for Jared Loughner’s E-mails

A day after Arizona shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison and confronted by his victims, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, Gawker has published excerpts of the killer’s dream journal, obtained from his hacked Gmail account. Gawker editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio explained, “After being contacted by a second-hand source in possession of the material, I decided to purchase them,” and told Daily Intel that the site paid $1,000.

The contents of Loughner’s inbox are described as mostly “inconsequential and unrevealing,” but, Daulerio added, “The most interesting interactions Jared had were with himself, most of which were saved in a draft folder. Inside there were his dream logs, a pivotal part of the investigation which not many have seen.” Giffords’ name turns up “several times” dating back to 2009, including in one published example: “then was living with gaberiall giffords dad and asked why we haven’t talked to thme.”

As for which e-mails Gawker chose to publish, Daulerio said, “They’re so disjointed and incoherent that I thought it would be redundant and boring for most people to slog through.” Giffords, he said, “was mentioned two other times as a character/figure in his dream.”

And to those who might argue that publicizing the stolen messages was unnecessary, Daulerio added, “They can fuck themselves.”

Gawker Paid $1,000 for Jared Loughner’s E-mails