Popular "blog"/massive US media site Gawker is imploding over a story it ran this week, which has since been taken down. Basically, the story reported on a married executive at a major magazine company who had arranged to meet with a gay escort. When the escort realised the man was the brother of a former bigwig in the Obama administration, he started blackmailing him to try and help with a housing dispute he had with a landlord, until the executive backed out. The escort then went to Gawker which exposed the executive, and kept the escort anonymous.

Gawker's comments which are usually full of black humour and sarcasm went into overdrive, accusing Gawker of aiding a blackmail, publishing the private life of someone who isn't a public figure, outing someone against their will, and generally ruining his life in pursuit of clicks and gossip mongering.

Gawker's exec team then decided to pull down the post - the staff then put up a new post condemning the executives for interfering with the journalistic process. Such fun and games!

About the only defence for the piece came from Gawker's editor, who said: "given the chance gawker will always report on married c-suite executives of major media companies fucking around on their wives".

What do you think? Have they gone TOO FAR?