Like many recent graduates of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, David Hauslaib is seeking a job in magazine publishing.
In the meantime, instead of temping, waiting tables or living off the fat of his family, the 21-year-old Hauslaib shovels snark for a living. Of course, it's not easy to convince an editor to hire you when you've just insulted him on your website.
Hauslaib is the founder, publisher, editor and sole employee of Jossip, a site with a tag line that reads, "Celebrity and media gossip and news." On it, he trashes Paris Hilton and razzes The New York Times, takes potshots at Michael Moore and homophobic critics of SpongeBob SquarePants, dishes dirt on pretty boy Fabian Basabe (who married La Perla lingerie heiress Martina Borgomanero) and spanks mainstream reporters for engaging in what he regards as "duh" journalism.
Writing in first-person plural, Hauslaib uses "we" even though it's just "he" behind the screen. That way he can pretend to employ a full staff he willingly underpays -- just like at a real publisher. Although there is some original content, most of Hauslaib's material consists of links to existing articles, to which he adds a vitriolic paragraph or two. In essence, he's a gossip aggregator.
Like many writers whose blogs morphed into other ventures, Hauslaib figured he could take his sharp-toothed commentary and turn it into a full-fledged, for-profit online publishing operation. His inspiration was Gawker, the web's first media gossip site. Now, a little more than a year after its launch, Jossip (journalism + gossip, get it?) attracts a respectable 75,000 unique visitors a month -- most of them regulars, although he claims that Google sends a fair amount of traffic his way from people searching for images of "Paris Hilton" and "sex."
He would characterize his readers as culturally savvy, interested in the racism that he says pervades Abercrombie & Fitch and Bonnie Fuller's tantrums (she's the editorial chief of American Media, which publishes The National Enquirer and Star). Many are apt to be celebrities, nightclub owners, socialites, restaurateurs, talent representatives and venture capitalists, as well as the usual gossip voyeurs. This means they are hipper than your typical National Enquirer subscriber. Site visitors can submit stories and tips and will often return to see whether an item they wrote makes it up. "It's part of the 'in the know' feeling that makes readers feel warm and fuzzy when the Maker's Mark wears off," Hauslaib said.
Undoubtedly, there is money to be made in bitchy commentary and fact-thin speculation. Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's separation has meant millions to scandal mongers like Us Weekly and E Entertainment Television, not to mention their online competitors. "Everyone loves hearing dirt on other people," Hauslaib said, "and online gossip targets a market print publications usually can't touch: nine-to-fivers. While advertising copywriters pretend four full days are required to craft the perfect tagline, they're really at their computers, zipping up their pants before logging on to Adrants and Gawker."
Hauslaib reaps enough from his site to live on, which includes plenty of Starbucks and magazines when publishers aren't feeling generous enough to provide them gratis. Although he won't provide exact figures, he insists "there's some money to be made, but I haven't figured out how to get Movable Type to print bank notes quite yet."
Don't call Jossip a blog, even though, well, it is. Hauslaib prefers "online magazine." It's much simpler to sell Jossip to advertisers as a webzine than a blog because even today many advertisers can't grasp the nature of the blogosphere. They don't recognize its marketing power, or are afraid to run ad campaigns on blogs due to their risqu reputation.
"It comes down to not wanting to implicitly identify Jossip with the amateur reputation the word blog carries with it, from the horror stories of teenage bullies using blogs to torment classmates or the possibility of a negative meme spreading via blogs," he said.
Hauslaib's overhead is practically nil. Blogging software is free and website hosting is cheap. Most of his income derives from ad networks (Google's AdSense, Blogads, Burst Media), plus advertisements he sells on his own. Although it sounds easy, Hauslaib says it's not. Readers won't log on regularly -- up to a dozen times a day -- unless there is content that interests them, which is where most gossip sites fail.
For someone who so desperately wants to work at a print magazine, Hauslaib doesn't have much respect for mainstream journalism, especially the way it covers online publishing. "For Jossip's readers," he said, "an article on blogs is like an article on another Paris Hilton sex tape: Seen it, done it, rewound it."
Does he ever feel guilty about trashing people?
Not really. "Few of the people who pop up on Jossip are people I regularly associate with, so that might make it easier to publish items bearing their names," he said.
Besides, what readers see on Jossip is merely an act, a role he plays to publish an entertaining website. He says he doesn't drink as much as the site would lead readers to believe, nor does he worship the media personalities Jossip lavishes so much attention on.
"I take a step back when I publish the site, adopt the 'we' voice and add a touch more narcissistic wit than one might find in me in person," he said.
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Adam L. Penenberg is an assistant professor at New York University and the assistant director of the business and economic reporting program in the school's department of journalism.
