The new sin
In the old days, journalists were canned for a few too-frequently committed sins: lying, plagiarism, fudging the expense account. It’s amazing how many have now found the new sin of sock-puppetry. I’ve said before that this comes out of some fear of facing people eye-to-eye, to have opinions and to state them like any normal human being. So there is this strange instinct to hide behind a fake identity just because other people do it online. In the end, it’s just another form of lying.
Tags: journalism
September 5th, 2006 at 6:54 am
dude shoulda got fired.
i dont know about your place of work, but if i ever got caught lying, repeatedly, to the cutomer, id be shtcanned in a second.
September 5th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Another form of lying, isn’t it? That’s right. But journalists do lie all the time, so I’m not surprised at all.
After all, they are paid for their lies, despite what the editors say.
September 5th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Not to defend this latest dipshit from NRO, the Siegel person, but Walt Whitman and Edgar Allen Poe used to draw the long bow in print, lauding their effoirts, but then they had something going for them and cannot be dismissed like Siegel, the flying carp. And, it should be noted, that remarking on his misdeeds will merely encourage him. alhallowell
September 5th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Another form of lying, isn’t it? That’s right. But journalists do lie all the time, so I’m not surprised at all.
Don’t you mean”
“Another form of lying, isn’t it? That’s right. But bloggers do lie all the time, so I’m not surprised at all.”
The guy is a blogger after all. full out pajamas.
September 6th, 2006 at 5:38 am
[...] Jeff Jarvis lays down the law in terms of journalists hiding behind screen names [...]
September 10th, 2006 at 11:48 am
[...] Jeff Jarvis shares his opinion on this: [...]