The LA Observed web site has a nice collection of comments posted on the Internet related to the ethical issues at the Los Angeles Times surrounding former business columnist Michael Hiltzik, who lost his column and his blog after posting comments on other blogs using a pseudonym.
Times editor Dean Baquet called the situation a “professional tragedy,” according to LA Observed. Some Times staffers say that Hiltzik, a former Pulitzer Prize winner, is lucky to keep his job.
More comments:
Instapundit Glenn Reynolds on CNN’s Reliable Sources: “This seems more like a misdemeanor than like a felony….It seems like the tackiness rule should apply.”
Patterico posts, “I have argued for a couple of weeks now that Michael Hiltzik’s use of pseudonyms as sock puppets was embarrassing and silly, but not something that should get him disciplined by the Los Angeles Times — beyond, perhaps, a temporary suspension of his blog.”
Independent Sources says, “Killing Hiltzik’s print column seems a stretch, unless the notion is to make him quit.”
Read more comments here.
My position: What Hiltzik did was stupid and unprofessional and hurts the profession. I think he’s lucky to still have a job as well.
