Gawker editor defends paying for alleged Ford video

TORONTO – Gawker editor John Cook defended his ‘Crackstarter’ fund, a crowd sourcing campaign to buy a video allegedly showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking from a glass pipe.

The U.S.-based website reached its goal of $200,000 Monday afternoon with less than 11 hours before the campaign closed.

“I was surprised and heartened that we actually hit the goal,” Cook said Tuesday during an appearance on CBC Radio.

Cook defended the idea of collecting money to pay the alleged drug dealers who offered to sell the video.

“The reason we were going to pay for it is because that was the way that we could get it on our site. That was my goal. I wanted this video on our site,” he explained. “We couldn’t come to terms so I left empty-handed. When the existence of the video became public the people who had it insisted that they wanted $200,000 for it. We weren’t going to pay that and so I thought, ‘why don’t we throw it open to our readers, to the people of Toronto, the people of Canada, and see if it’s worth that?’ — and it turns out that it was.”

Global News has not seen the video and cannot independently verify its authenticity.

Cook said paying for rights to use photos or videos is “utterly routine” in the U.S. but many media outlets do not disclose the practice.

“I went to Toronto, I viewed this video with my own eyes, I spoke to the people who created the video and were present in the room … and I’m satisfied that the video is genuine, that it shows what it purports to show and that the story that these people were telling was true. That’s what reporters do.”

Councillor Doug Ford has slammed Gawker, calling the website “disgusting and morally wrong.”

Cook said Gawker simply wanted to post an interesting story and was not motivated by advertising revenue generated by an increase in clicks from north of the border.

“We don’t sell Canadian audiences. A Canadian reader of Gawker is worthless to us,” he said.

“This is about a good story.”