Gawker shouldn't be asking the public to fund their existing enterprise. If they have $200k, they should pony up, because obviously they think it's worth that much. I'm tired of seeing crowd-funding being used to push projects by people and businesses who already have enough money to get it off the ground, just don't want to spend, or borrow it.
"obviously they think it's worth that much."?
If it worth that much for them then why don't they pay? Because it doesn't worth that much for them...
Do you really think they could get $200k in revenue front that video alone? No they can't... the guy got an offer of $40k from a Canadian Network, this is the best he could get.
However we do deserve to see this video and this guy deserve to get money for the trouble and to be able to move somewhere where he will be safe.
Crowdfunding is the best way because it's good for the crowd.
if i had a video of a major political figure smoking crack, i certainly hope i would have a variety of contingency plans in place to ensure my safety.. i also hope i would have more media connections than gawker to sell the video to, and not have to rely on crowd funding for the purchaser to hit my price.