And the climate nowadays is better than it ever has been for outlets like Infowars. Alex Jones is supported by the president of the United States. Yet it's problematic for people who write well-substantiated, honest pieces on powerful entertainment celebrities like R. Kelly.
The Gawker case did absolutely nothing to hold Infowars to account. It instead had the effect of demonstrating that it can be dangerous to write negative things about entertainment celebrities with deep pockets. Needless to say, with the president of the United States being who he is, it's hard to argue that that particular outcome is a societal benefit.
From what I understand, Gawker's two big follies lead to their downfall was:
1. Outing Peter Thiel as gay. Sleazy IMO.
2. Publishing a HH sex tape that was stolen and recorded without HH's permission. (according to HH).
They didn't get in trouble for #1, though it's pretty damn sleazy. They did get in trouble for #2, which they absolutely should have. I would think if some publication published the stolen JLaw pics, they would get sued out of existence too.
They didn't get in trouble for writing negative things about entertainment celebrities. They got in trouble for publishing stolen porn. Also, they would have gotten away with it because HH was running out of money for the lawsuit. That's where Thiel came in. What we almost got was a news publication being able to publish stolen porn because they have deep pockets.
FWIW, the Fairness Doctrine repeal in the 80s is what lead to all these airbags spewing anger for ad revenue. That's an actual free speech issue.
Amazingly, much of the free press in the US have made themselves a liability to society by obfuscating what is truth and what is fiction without giving a second thought as to how detrimental it is to the country. Think Alex Jones and Fox News types. Think weasel words like "people think," "It's been said that," etc. Those are cues that the topic is as best unsubstantiated, at worst an outright falsehood to inspire fear in people for ad revenue. There are similar types on the opposite of the political spectrum. These companies exist to profit off of fear, obfuscation and anger.
The best way to protect yourself? Don't publish shitty tabloid articles. Don't publish shit sex tapes of fucking HH, as if anyone wants to see that. If you are in the business of pushing sleaze and ruining people's lives for profit, piss off.
Journalism's purpose in our society is to tell the population what the powerful people / government don't want them to know. The reason this is useful is because a democratically elected population needs to know what's going on in order to make correct choices come election time. They need to know if their government is corrupt. People don't need to know that Theil is gay or what HH looks like having sex. That's not journalism, that's not useful, that's gossip.
As for this R Kelly business? Everyone knows he's a weirdo. Take it to the authorities if you want to make a difference. If the authorities ignore it and he's actually doing something illegal? Then publish it to force their hand.