John Cook, Gawker writer who published two-year-old list of 'gun-owning a**holes,' promoted to editor

Sigh. We hadn’t really heard of Gawker writer John Cook until just this week, when he made a splash by publishing a two-year-old list of legal, registered gun owners in New York City. Sure, the list was out of date, and the morally questionable stunt had already been pulled by the folks at the Journal News in suburban New York. Cook gave the piece his own special spin, though, by titling it, “Here Is a List of All the Assholes Who Own Guns in New York City.” (Cook eventually relented under a storm of criticism, replacing “assholes” with “handsome, law abiding citizens.” Apparently women don’t own guns in New York?) So, how about a promotion?

Handsome, law-abiding Gawker reporter gets a promotion: http://t.co/08ITJ06I

— John Sexton (@verumserum) January 10, 2013

Cook has been named the new editor of Gawker, replacing the outgoing A.J. Daulerio. As editor-in-chief, Cook will be responsible for the general editorial direction of the site. Gee, we wonder what direction that might be?

In an email, Gawker founder and managing editor Nick Denton said that Cook, “a surprisingly powerful opinion writer,” would “preserve the crew and build on the success of 2012.” Some highlights of 2012? There was the short-lived series of spy reports from a Fox News “mole,” an underwhelming dump of 950 pages of Bain Capital documents and, oh yeah, that sympathetic look at pedophiles. But remember, legal gun permit holders are the assholes.