Ken Layne
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Ken Layne is an American writer, publisher and broadcaster best known for his political blogging in the early 2000s and his association with
Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...
and ''
Wonkette ''Wonkette'' is an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox. The editor since 2012 is Rebecca Schoenkopf, formerly of ''OC Weekly''. ''Wonkette'' covers U.S. ...
'' from 2006 to 2012. He is the proprietor of ''Desert Oracle'', a self-published periodical and radio program exploring themes related to the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...
and the Southwestern United States. Layne has also written for outlets such as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', ''
The Awl ''The Awl'' was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid." History Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''Gawker'' editors Choire Sicha and Alex Balk ...
'' and '' LA CityBeat''.


Career


Early career

After graduating from a
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
magnet high school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
focused on
broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
, Layne began his career in the mid-1980s reporting for
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
newspapers before moving to Europe, where he worked for television, radio, and print journalism outlets in Macedonia, the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, and
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
. In the late 1990s, Layne returned to the United States and turned to online journalism exclusively. In April 1997, Layne co-founded Tabloid.net, an online publication in the "brassy style of tabloid newspapers", with $50,000 in savings. While unprofitable as a company, Tabloid.net attained notoriety as an "unabashed scandal-monger" and for suing a Florida advertising company for appropriating its intellectual property, "a talking ham sandwich that gives advice". Layne's next venture was LAExaminer.com, co-founded in 2001 with future ''
Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
'' editor-in-chief
Matt Welch Matthew Lee Welch (born July 31, 1968) is an American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit. Early life Welch was born on July 31, 1968 in Bellflower, California. He was raised in Long Beach, California. He attended U ...
, focused in part on criticism of Los Angeles' last remaining daily newspaper, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. The "Examiner" name was intended as homage to the defunct ''
Los Angeles Herald Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon ' ...
''. In early 2003, former Los Angeles mayor
Richard Riordan Richard Joseph Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is an American investment banker, businessman, lawyer, and former Republican politician who was the 39th Mayor of Los Angeles, from 1993 to 2001. Born in New York City and raised in New Rochelle, New Y ...
announced his intentions to publish a full-color, 52-page, tabloid-format print edition called ''Los Angeles Examiner'', with Layne as editor, intended to improve on the ''Times'' local reporting. A prototype was produced and circulated among potential investors and advertisers, however the project was shelved after Riordan delayed its launch in May 2003. During this time period, Layne also received attention for blogging at his personal website, KenLayne.com, and became known in the early 2000s American political and technology
blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can pu ...
for a quote directed at the mainstream media: "We can fact-check your ass". Another Layne project of the era was called Highways West, a travel website about the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...
, announced in January 2005.


Gawker Media and ''Wonkette''

In April 2005, Layne joined with former Gawker editor
Choire Sicha Choire Sicha ( , born November 19, 1971) is an American writer and blogger. In June 2021, he became an editor-at-large at ''New York''; he had been the editor of ''The New York Times'' Style section since September 2017. Previously, he served as ...
to launch Sploid, a
Drudge Report The Drudge Report (stylized as DRUDGE REPORT) is a U.S.-based news aggregation website founded by Matt Drudge, and run with the help of Charles Hurt and Daniel Halper. The site was generally regarded as a conservative publication, though its ow ...
-inspired, "tabloid-emulating" website for
Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...
, devoted to breaking news. He later became "national correspondent" for the flagship Gawker website. Layne became the West Coast writer for Gawker Media's "absurdist" and "vicious" political humor site ''
Wonkette ''Wonkette'' is an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox. The editor since 2012 is Rebecca Schoenkopf, formerly of ''OC Weekly''. ''Wonkette'' covers U.S. ...
'' in 2006, and later its managing editor. Gawker owner
Nick Denton Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966) is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist and blogger, the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York-based ''Gawker' ...
spun off ''Wonkette'' in 2008, along with two other websites, and Layne became ''Wonkette'' owner. In 2009,
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
's
Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and r ...
named Layne and ''Wonkette'' in his "Worst Person in the World" segment for allegedly mischaracterizing a temporary absence from his television program. In 2011, ''Wonkette'' faced media criticism and desertion by advertisers after a writer mocked Trig Palin, the child of 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has
Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
. Layne deleted the post after several advertisers, including
Papa John's Pizza Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolit ...
, pulled their advertising from the site. Layne sold ''Wonkette'' to Los Angeles journalist Rebecca Schoenkopf in 2012. Of his career writing for the Gawker Media sites, Layne said in 2018: "All of that I did from the desert, and no one knew".


''Desert Oracle''

In February 2015, Layne created ''Desert Oracle: The Voice of the Desert'', a quarterly periodical focused on the "weirdness of the desert" in the Southwestern United States. Each edition runs 44 pages, most of which is written and designed by Layne, entirely in black-and-white, inside a yellow and black cover. Typical content includes "adventurers' journal entries, railroad ad copy, and ... naturalists' musings", as well as stories on "alien sightings" and other paranormal phenomena. Inspiration for ''Desert Oracle'' came from Randall Henderson's ''
Desert Magazine ''Desert Magazine'' was a monthly regional publication based in the Colorado Desert published between 1937 and 1985. A print version bearing the same name has been revived in the Coachella Valley town of Palm Desert near Palm Springs, California ...
'' and
Harry Oliver Harry Oliver (April 4, 1888 – July 4, 1973) was an American humorist, artist, and Academy Award nominated art director of films from the 1920s and 1930s. Besides his outstanding work in Hollywood, he is now best remembered for his humorous w ...
's '' Desert Rat Scrap Book''. Published from
Joshua Tree, California Joshua Tree is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 7,414 at the 2010 census. At approximately above sea level, Joshua Tree and its surrounding communities are located in the High ...
, Layne distributes the publications to bookstores and cafes across the desert southwest. As of 2018, ''Desert Oracle'' is available in five states and reaches the majority of its readership through the mail via paid subscription. Layne has also collected ''Desert Oracle'' articles in book form, the first volume of which published in 2020. ''Desert Oracle'' became the basis of a weekly half-hour radio show, ''The Desert Oracle Radio'', hosted by Layne for the community radio station KCDZ in June 2017. With subject matter similar to the print version, Layne's radio show features "chilling tales of Bigfoot sightings, secret military
UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
programs, missing hikers, and any number of myths and conspiracies" centered in the Mojave desert and the American Southwest. ''The Desert Oracle Radio'' reaches
Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to the Mojave Desert. Origin ...
and nearby towns including Pioneertown, Twentynine Palms and
Yucca Valley Yucca Valley is an incorporated town in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 20,700 as of the 2010 census. Yucca Valley lies west of Twentynine Palms, north of Palm Springs, south of Barstow via State Route ...
by terrestrial broadcast; the show is also available as a podcast.


Other writing

Layne is the author of two novels, ''Dot.con'', published in 2001, and ''Dignity'', an
epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
about a group of Los Angelenos creating a new community within abandoned desert housing developments following an economic collapse, in 2011. He formerly was a columnist for USC Annenberg School's ''Online Journalism Review'', and wrote a column called "Desert Rattler" for '' LA CityBeat'', both now defunct. Other writing by Layne has appeared in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', and ''
The Awl ''The Awl'' was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid." History Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''Gawker'' editors Choire Sicha and Alex Balk ...
''.


Personal life

Layne was born in
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, where he lived in the
Lower Ninth Ward The Lower Ninth Ward is a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. As the name implies, it is part of the 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward is often thought of as the entire area within New Orleans downriver of the Indus ...
of
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
as a child. He moved to the
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
suburbs for middle school, and later to San Diego, where he first began visiting the Mojave desert. Layne records his own music, and formerly played with Southern California rock musicians Country Dick Montana and Buddy Blue Seigal. He has cited ''
Desert Solitaire ''Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness'' is an autobiographical work by American writer Edward Abbey, originally published in 1968. His fourth book and his first book-length non-fiction work, it follows three fictional books: '' Jonath ...
'' by
Edward Abbey Edward Paul Abbey (January 29, 1927 – March 14, 1989) was an American author, essayist, and environmental activist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues and criticism of public land policies. His best-known works include '' Desert S ...
as an influence, whom he met and corresponded with before Abbey's death in 1989.


Further reading


The Rise and Fall of the L.A. Examiner, a Blog That Was a Newspaper That Never Existed
Ken Layne, ''
The Awl ''The Awl'' was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid." History Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''Gawker'' editors Choire Sicha and Alex Balk ...
'', 2 April 2013
Publishing the Best of the Desert: An Interview With Ken Layne
Aaron Gilbreath, ''Longreads'', 25 April 2018


References


External links


Desert Oracle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Layne, Ken Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American bloggers American male journalists 21st-century American novelists Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male writers American broadcasters People from California Mojave Desert 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male bloggers