Guckert's pseudonym is one of the interesting side issues that is bringing forth the typical distortions of the Right wing talking heads. Guckert and his defenders generic line about his false name runs something like this: "Pseudonyms have traditionally been used by journalists, writers, actors, musicians, and other public figures..." Wait a minute! They slipped one in there. This is a true statement but for the first item in the list: "journalists."
I woke up this morning after watching yesterday's Guckert interview with the following thought - "Pen names are used by writers of FICTIION." Non-fiction (or truth) is, with very few exceptions, written under the author's real name. So I started checking into the definition and use of pen names. They're legal as long as the user is ot using them for anything illegal (like outing Plame?). Website references to pen names is for fictional work, with the sole exception of essays (e.g., the Federalist papers). The purposes are for 1) privacy, 2) commercial appeal, 3) writing for different markets, 4) SEPARATING AN AUTHOR'S NON-FICTION WORK FROM FICTIONAL WORK. The examples given for number 4 are a journalist who uses a pseudonym for pornography and a professor who uses a pseudonym for romance novels.
The point is that there is no "tradition" of pseudonym use in journalism, especially in news journalism. If I am mistaken, I'd like to know about it. If you know of any individual glaring exceptions to my proposition, or of any common exceptions, please comment.