For reasons only she can explain, Garance Franke-Ruta, who I generally like, has a
bug up her ass about poliical blogging, specifically anonymous blogging:
Further, the disclosure problems in the blogosphere are so broad and diverse in nature that they would seem to require addressing on their own apart from the FEC rules, which, even if broadened slightly to include disclosure by paid campaign consultants, would have no impact on the larger problem. For example, DailyKos's "Adam B," who decided to use me as a straw man last week in his quest to generate online opposition to H.R. 4900, is, I learned over the weekend, Adam Bonin, the attorney representing leading liberal bloggers from DailyKos, Atrios, and MyDD, which have conducted a lobbying campaign against that bill.
This has led to the peculiar scenario where the Internet has fostered more openness and transparency on the part of old media than on the part of the new actors. Today, The New York Times editorial board offers readers greater transparency about who its writers and editors are than does Daily Kos, where designated site co-authors like georgia10 and SusanG use handles but not their names, and do not post easily locatable biographies, or MyDD, which provides very little information about its authors, one of whom is currently employed by a likely 2008 presidential candidate.
WTF? Adam B. has ALWAYS been known to be the lawyer for kos and atrios AND RED STATE!! That she did NOT know that is her fucking problem, not ours.
It so happens I know who SusanG and Georgia and mcjoan are in that I know their names. Do I know what axes they may have to grind? No more than I know what axes Garance has to grind. This is pure bullshit. It is this simple - do you trust Markos or not? Markos knows all of his Guest bloggers, past and present. You either trust his vetting or not. Credibility comes with earning it, not you saying what your name is. Hell, what if you lie about it? This is just such bullshit from Garance. I don't know what ax she is grinding with this, but it is supremely dumb.
More on the flip.
Personally, I doubt there is anyone around who can not figure out who I am. But what I do for a living is in no way connected to my blogging. And I don't want it mixed up, even though ugly people have tried to harm me in my professional life. It gives people like me the freedom to express ourselves without jeopardizing our professional lives. Garance considers that not important. I consider Garance's concerns unimportant. And her "solution" is simply childish:
With power comes responsibility. A happy solution to the vexing problem of inadequate online disclosures was suggested to me by a blogger friend who also routinely publishes pieces in major newspapers. This is his personal policy, and I now adopt it as my own:
I will no longer link to any writer who does not disclose his identity and affiliations in an obvious place or manner, or reply to online commenters who decline to disclose their names.
In so doing, I will be extending the same standards this publication uses for publishing and replying to letters to the editor to the online comments, which have functionally replaced letters to the editor to a great extent, and the same standard this publication uses for all other sources to online ones. (This won't be site policy, just mine.) No publication considers a truly anonymous source -- one whose identity is unknown to both reporter and readers -- a usable one for any purpose other than further inquiry. And yet reporters, including myself, have routinely cited the writings of pseudonymous commentors, in grave violation of that standard.
Indeed, by extending the media exemption to all bloggers, including ones run by undisclosed political operatives, the FEC may have done both journalists and bloggers a favor. Now that bloggers will be considered media for purposes of campaign finance rules, I would hope they start acting like print media for the purposes of their disclosure standards, as well. Were more journalists and bloggers to adopt the policy of not linking to those who don't disclose or self-identify, over time, disclosure would become normative in the blogosphere in the same way that it is in print media. And everyone would happily chatter on.
Here's my new policy, I won't link to bloggers who have undisclosed axes to grind against bloggers. First on the list - Garance Franke-Ruta.