Saturday, April 29, 2006

Double journalistic standards

The Los Angeles Times, today, in stripping Michael Hiltzik of his blog for posting comments pseudonymously:
[E]mploying pseudonyms constitutes deception

The Los Angeles Times, in 2005, regarding faux White House correspondent Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert:
What is a journalist?

As Brian Montopoli noted at the time:
If Fitzwater or Neuman honestly believes that there is any comparison to be made between Helen Thomas and a fake journalist with a fake name working for a fake news outlet asking fake questions at a real press briefing, then Neuman's feigned befuddlement over what a journalist is begins to seem less feigned. Alas, if the Los Angeles Times sees fit to print lazy and misleading pieces such as this, then the craft may indeed be facing an identity crisis, the likes of which Jean-Paul Sartre described 50 years ago.

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