Last November, Dan Gillmor recommending reading the Michael Hiltzik's Golden State Blog, from the LA Times. I subscribed, figuring it might be a good way to keep up on some California issues while far away from home. I never found it particularly gripping until this week. In On Anonymity in Blogland, Hiltzik defending having posted anonymously on other blogs and, in fact, setting up conversations to himself.

It was pretty unapologetic, and I was amazed. I'm not a big fan of anonymous posting to begin with; I'm far less of a fan of people who drum up support for themselves by pretending to be others. Hiltzik was outted by Assistant LA District Attorney Patrick Frey, after Frey spotted this activity on his own blog.

Further amazement today. A new post:

Notice from the Editors
The Times has suspended Michael Hiltzik’s Golden State blog on latimes.com. Hiltzik admitted Thursday that he posted items on the paper’s website, and on other websites, under names other than his own. That is a violation of The Times ethics guidelines, which requires editors and reporters to identify themselves when dealing with the public. The policy applies to both the print and online editions of the newspaper. The Times is investigating the postings.

Wow. So I shoot over to Memeorandum, not to the tech side that I normally frequent but the politics side. How's that playing out?

Pretty big. It's the second story on the page with lots of substories (here and here). Probably most interesting was Independent Sources digging up how Hiltzik was disciplined for reading the email of LA Times coworkers back in 1993.

Wow.

More interesting, most of the coverage -- heck, all of it -- is only from blogs. Where are the other newspapers reporting about this? It's a pretty big deal, so you'd think there was some coverage. I do a Google News search for hilzik. Two stories, one from the LA Voice (which is really a blog post) and the other from the Washington Post. Nada from Yahoo News.

Next Post: Gmail, Can I Have My Mail Via Pop? Computer Says No: Error 0X800CC92
Previous Post: Can Blogs Make Money? Can Web Sites Make Money!
All Posts: Daggle Archives
Posts By Category: Daggle Categories
Return To: Daggle Home Page

Comments

Want to comment? If you are signed into TypeKey, you'll see a form below. No form? Click on the sign-in link below, and you can sign-in or sign-up for a free account. Sorry you have to use TypeKey, but I use it to avoid comment spam. All comments currently appear automatically after posting.

Leave a comment

Name

Email Address

URL

Remember personal info?

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)