Columnist's Blog: He Hasn't Been Himself Lately

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 24, 2006

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times hasn't exactly been pulling his punches.

He has ripped "the right-wing noise machine Hugh Hewitt," calling the radio host a "close-minded nincompoop" who parades his "ignorance" and shows "his sedulous devotion, like a sucking remora fish, to the imploding George W. Bush."

He has assailed "the reactionary Kate O'Beirne" for suffering a "loss of bladder control" in her televised comments.

He has slammed Los Angeles writer Cathy Seipp as "one of those people whose desire to Tell it Like it Is tends to be hampered by lack of information."

Hiltzik has done all this not in his column but on his company-approved blog, a sideline that has landed him in trouble and raised questions about how far news organizations should go in allowing employees to swing away in the freewheeling, name-calling, grudge-settling blogosphere.

The Times suspended Hiltzik's blog on the paper's Web site last week after he admitted using one or more pseudonyms, in violation of the company's policy, to post derogatory comments on his and other people's blogs. The anonymous blasts by "Mikekoshi" were usually aimed at the same people he peppers on his Golden State blog, which is far more personal and inflammatory than his newspaper column on financial issues.

Hiltzik also got into trouble in 1993, when the Times recalled him from the paper's Moscow bureau after he was caught hacking into colleagues' e-mail. He was exposed through an internal sting operation when he asked about phony messages that had been sent to other staffers in the bureau.

"His answer was that he was nosy and curious," says Carey Goldberg, a former colleague in the Moscow bureau who now works for the Boston Globe. "We were extremely upset. It was an incredible invasion of privacy. There were a lot of personal e-mails in there."

Seipp says Hiltzik has apparently been taking potshots at her because she criticized him at the time of the 13-year-old incident. While Hiltzik is "a very smart reporter and writer," Seipp says, his behavior "suggests that this guy has a history of snooping around and is dishonest and doing things he shouldn't be doing. It's also self-destructive."

It's unclear why Hiltzik would take such a risk, but not everyone is critical. Claude Brodesser, who writes a Los Angeles column for the Web site Media Bistro, writes that anonymous posting is part of the Internet culture and that even reporters should enjoy that freedom. "Hiltzik might have cloaked his identity -- something seemingly at variance with the Times' policies -- but what he did was hardly lying or, for that matter, extortion," Brodesser says.

What exactly are the rules for print or television journalists blogging on company sites? Reporters are usually told not to take political stands or say anything they wouldn't say in print or on the air. But blogs by their nature are more personal, attitude-filled, sharp-edged or sarcastic -- often dashed off within minutes -- and that is the essence of their appeal. It can also be dangerous territory.

Neither Hiltzik nor Times editors would comment while his blog practices are under investigation. But the Times is hardly the only news outlet grappling with the question of standards.

ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper, who was writing the blog Down and Dirty for the network's Web site, told readers this month that the column would be going on hiatus "for a host of complicated reasons," which sounds like code for disagreements over content.

"Complicated reasons????" one reader wrote. "That can only mean one thing -- it wasn't your decision."

Wrote another: "Hey, ABC, can't you see that, in Tapper, you have a resource that elicits emotion from his dedicated readers? Give him some leash and let the big dog eat!"

Says ABC spokeswoman Emily Lenzner: "Some news organizations have been loose with their blogs and others are more conservative. We put our blogs through a more rigorous editorial process, which is something this blogger chose to take a break from."

Washingtonpost.com, which carries blogs by more than two dozen of the newspaper's staffers (including this columnist), caused an online uproar last month by hiring 24-year-old Ben Domenech as a conservative blogger. Domenech resigned under pressure after three days when liberal bloggers unearthed ample evidence that in the past he had lifted material from other writers without attribution.

Other organizations have had no friction. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune are among the newspapers that carry blogs by some of their top reporters. NBC carries regular blogs by anchor Brian Williams and Baghdad correspondent Richard Engel. Time recently signed a deal to begin carrying the blog by Andrew Sullivan, one of the edgiest pioneers of the genre.

"We clearly bill it as Andrew's opinions and ideas, and they go places that the print version of Time Magazine might not go," says Stephen Koepp, Time's deputy managing editor. "People expect a more unvarnished opinion. . . . He uses his own good judgment about what's appropriate."

Mark Jurkowitz, the Boston Phoenix's media writer, says his blog isn't edited by the bosses but says he finds himself toning things down out of "self-censorship."

For news organizations, Jurkowitz says, "there is a rush to embrace blogs without a lot of hard thought about the rules of the game for people whose day jobs are working for these publications. When you're talking about disguising your identity, deception, you're in a real bad area."

Welcome Wagon

Katie Couric did more than drop by CBS News last week.

While wrapping up her final weeks at NBC's "Today," Couric spent hours at the rival network Wednesday, addressing 200 people in the newsroom and then lingering to work the room. She talked about how excited she was to be taking the evening news job at CBS and how she wanted to try new things and build on the changes made by the outgoing anchor, Bob Schieffer.

If the goal was to charm those who might be skeptical of her taking the anchor job, Couric apparently succeeded.

CBS News President Sean McManus told the staff he was struck by "her respect for good journalism, solid reporting and compelling storytelling." Schieffer says he found her to be "a wonderful person and wonderful mother who will be nurturing of our correspondents."

When the love-fest ended, Couric went across the street to the offices of "60 Minutes," where she will be a contributor. Couric met with Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Dan Rather and many others, including the office receptionist. "I think we wore her out," executive producer Jeff Fager says. "But she's so friendly, she had to meet everyone."

Couric did not encounter Andy Rooney, who badmouthed her hiring. But the "60 Minutes" curmudgeon recently told TV Week that he wished he had been "a little softer" in criticizing the Couric move and that "my objection is probably an old fogy's objection."

Page Six's Deep-Six

The New York Post has dropped Jared Paul Stern, the Page Six gossip contributor caught in a videotaped sting.

A Post spokesman did not deny a report in New York's Daily News that the Post has let go Stern and the three other part-timers at Page Six. The move comes during an FBI probe into whether Stern violated the law by asking California billionaire Ron Burkle for $220,000 following Burkle's complaints about his rough treatment by Page Six.

Stern's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, says that "we will be pursuing all of our legal options." Stern, who says he sought the money for media consulting and an investment in his clothing line, calls the News's reporting on him "total BS," saying: "The News are the ones who will have to cut back on staff -- they'll need the money to pay out all the libel claims."

Time Heals All Wounds

Three years ago, writer Gregg Easterbrook was thrown for a loss when ESPN's Web site dropped his weekly football column.

The problem was a New Republic blog posting in which he suggested that the Jewishness of Hollywood executives -- he mentioned Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, then both with Disney -- might be a factor in their filmmaking. Easterbrook apologized, but ESPN, which is owned by Disney, dumped him anyway.

Now the bad feelings have apparently faded. ESPN is announcing tomorrow that Easterbrook, who had been writing for the National Football League's Web site, has signed a new contract.

"They were friendly to me in private, even while they were firing me," Easterbrook says. "I made a mistake. They made a mistake. The world would be a better place if people could just forgive each other's mistakes."

While the Brookings fellow usually writes on weightier matters for such magazines as the Atlantic, he says, "this is the part of my writing my kids read."