David Watson reports that a Houston Chronicle reporter has been asked to stop publishing his weblog.
Something like this was probably inevitable as the trend of journalists-with-weblogs has continued, branching into edited, sanctioned weblogs at publication sites and independent weblogs of working journalists. If you blog for your employer there may be guidelines to follow but at least the boss won’t consider it moonlighting or a diversion of your energy away from your work.
In the case of Steve Olafson, the Houston Chronicle reporter, he did the blog on his own time but he used a pseudonym and commented on the subjects of his daytime beat:
Steve Olafson, who covers Brazoria County, Texas, has been asked to stop publishing his weblog (written on his own time), in which he comments on county politics and personalities while hiding under the cover of the pseudonym “Banjo Jones.” It seems that someone whom he skewered in his spicy political weblog “outed” him to The Facts newspaper in Brazoria County — and when Chronicle editors found out they told him to kill the blog. Apparently, he still has a job, but he’s lost some credibility with his sources, no doubt.