Univision deleted six articles that had been published by Gawker Media before its purchase by Univision. The six articles are the subjects of lawsuits, leading Univision to delete them.
“I communicated to Felipe and Jay in the strongest terms that deleting these posts is a mistake, and that disappearing true posts about public figures simply because they have been targeted by a lawyer who conspired with a vindictive billionaire to destroy this company is an affront to the very editorial ethos that has made us successful enough to be worth acquiring,” executive editor John Cook wrote in a statement.
The collective bargaining agreement states that posts can only be deleted after a vote by the executive editor, CEO, and general counsel. Cook voted to keep all the posts, but Felipe Holguin and Jay Grant, the interim CEO and interim general counsel, voted to delete six of the posts. A seventh post was not deleted and was tabled for consideration.
Three of the articles were from the sports website Deadspin, two from the tech-focused Gizmodo, and one from the female-centric Jezebel.
The articles have now been replaced with, “This story is no longer available as it is the subject of pending litigation against the prior owners of this site.”