Labor writer Hamilton Nolan: “Overeducated and underpaid” media workers are ideal organizers
The author of "The Hammer" talks Gawker, the boring stability of a niche beat, and why it was either journalism or pizza.
In 2015, Gawker Media launched a still vibrant industry trend by becoming the first digital media company to vote to unionize. Staff writer Hamilton Nolan, who often covered labor issues at Gawker, was one of its key organizers. “I got to see the labor movement as a journalist and as somebody who was organizing at my own job,” he tells Depth Perception. “So I got the 360-degree view of it.”
Gawker Media’s editorial staff ratified the contract in 2016. The unionization process, and what followed, was edifying for Nolan. “It showed me, on the one hand, the incredible potential that unions had to really fix things,” he says, “and also a lot of the things about unions that were kind of broken, and the ways that they weren’t living up to their potential.”
That experience “laid the groundwork” for Nolan’s new book, The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor, which examines the promises and shortcomings of the American labor movement.
Watching the number of digital media outlets that have unionized in the years since has been “really heartening,” Nolan says. “Media has actually been one of the more active and encouraging sectors in the labor movement in terms of new organizing,” he adds. And he has a theory why. “There’s kind of a sweet spot for union organizing, which is overeducated and underpaid people,” he says. “They are probably more aware of why they’re getting ripped off, and it makes them more likely to organize.”
Nolan, who lives in Brooklyn and most recently was on staff at progressive outlet In These Times, agreed to do a little free labor for Depth Perception by answering our Leading Questions. The following interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. —Mark Yarm
Why did you become a journalist?
I became a journalist because it was my only marketable skill. I was working in a pizza restaurant, so it was either this or a pizza restaurant. I started working for an alt-weekly in Jacksonville, Florida, when I was still in school. And then I moved to New York and got a job at a trade magazine called PR Week, which was really boring. And then I got a job at Gawker after that.
I loved Gawker. For a certain type of writer, it was the best place you could ever be. Because it gave a big audience and also total freedom. Usually, you can only have one of those two, but not both. But it kind of gave us both.
What is the purpose of journalism?
The purpose of journalism is to tell the truth. That’s it.
What story of yours are you proudest of?
During the recession, when I first started working at Gawker, we ran this series of unemployment stories. People who were unemployed wrote in and told their own stories, and then we’d publish them every week. And we ran it for 40 weeks. And I think that’s probably what I'm proudest of, though, ironically, I didn’t write anything for it. I was soliciting them on Gawker, and then I put together the package. I probably got more thank-you notes from people about that, just saying that it was meaningful for them, than anything I’ve ever written.
What story of yours do you most regret?
I can't think of any particular story. But I would say, in general, there were times at Gawker when probably I was too hard on people who were not famous. Regular people. I think it’s good to be hard on famous or powerful people, but maybe not so much on regular people.
Recently from Long Lead
As one of the world's strongest women, powerlifter Anna Kurkurina knows she is not the common physical embodiment of femininity. That hasn't stopped her maternal instinct, especially when she's working with children and animals.
For Long Lead's first photo essay, “Lifting Ukraine,” photojournalist Maranie Staab followed Kurkurina around the war-torn nation as she rescued stray animals, trained children with cerebral palsy to walk, and taught fitness classes at a local gym.
Speaking of one-time Gawker Media properties, what do you think about G/O's decision to sell Deadspin and lay off the site's entire staff?
I think it is just one more demonstration of the fact that the people who run G/O Media have never cared about “journalism” as such, which is one reason why they have run the place so incompetently. [G/O CEO] Jim Spanfeller is the single biggest goofball in the online media industry, which is a high bar.
What’s the best journalistic career advice you ever received?
My granddad used to be a journalist, and his advice was “Only write the interesting parts.” Really great advice. The more I think about it, the better advice I think it is.
What is the worst journalistic career advice you’ve ever received?
I had a teacher who said the way to have a career in journalism was to get a job on a very niche beat, like at a very specialized trade magazine or something, because it would be more stable. But later I worked at a trade magazine, and it was the most boring thing I’ve ever done in my whole career. I think that was bad advice.
What’s your worst writing habit?
Probably just writing as fast as possible, and then publishing it and never looking at it again. I’m not very meticulous.
“The purpose of journalism is to tell the truth. That’s it.”
If you could write an all-access profile of anyone in the world, who would it be?
I would have to say the evilest person that I could think of. So I'll say Ted Cruz. There are a lot of people who are evil, but I feel like he has that combination of being very smart and then just purposely doing evil things in a very calculated way.
What was the most indulgent media event you've ever attended?
I’ve covered a few presidential conventions. The entire national media is there, but there’s no actual news. They’re completely artificial events put on for the media.
In particular, I remember the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philly, when there were crazy street protests from a lot of the Bernie [Sanders] people. I remember going into this access-only lounge where the reporters were sitting in the air conditioning, eating free food and typing on their laptops. And then outside there were these huge street protests. The contrast between the bubble that the reporters were in and what was happening outside was pretty crazy.
What makes you hopeful for the future of journalism?
What makes me hopeful is the fact that people still want to read journalism. So even though the economic model of news is broken, that demand for news, I think, is just as strong as ever. So I feel optimistic, at least in a big picture sense, that we have to figure it out, because people still want to read news. Do I think we’ll figure it out? I’ll say yes. But I don’t actually know, so I just choose to be optimistic.
Further reading by Hamilton Nolan
“Unemployment Stories,” Vols. 1-40 (Gawker, July 19, 2012 - June 25, 2013)
“My Kasual Kountry Weekend With the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan” (Gawker, April 3, 2012)
“The Culinary Workers Run Vegas. The Politicians Are Just Visiting.” (In These Times, Feb. 24, 2020)
“The Confederacy Won’t Die Until Florida Does” (In These Times, Sept. 15, 2020)
“A Year in the Life of Safeway 1048” (In These Times, March 26, 2021)
“Insurance Politics at the End of the World” (How Things Work newsletter, May 30, 2023)
Always better to choose optimism. Pessimism/nihilism work great as self-fulfilling prophecies that allow you to deny any personal responsibility for the state of the world, but optimism is a statement of humility. Recognizing that no one can predict the future, so you might as well push for a better one.