Thursday, June 08, 2006

MEDIA CULTURE

Controversy   [Stephen Spruiell]

Let me just say a few things about the Armando controversy. First and foremost, my goal in writing about Armando's work was not to "silence" him, as many have suggested. My post raised questions about potential conflicts of interest between his work and his blogging, and I fully expected him to address those questions — so much so that I was trying to anticipate his responses and prepare a rebuttal. The last thing I expected was his announcement that he was planning to quit blogging as a result of my post.

His announcement was so unexpected to me because everything I wrote was based on information that Armando himself had shared with other web sites — his full name, his work affiliation, and his role as a blogger at Daily Kos are all listed together on these sites. He also posted his picture on his bio at another high-profile liberal blog. Yet for some reason, many are claiming that until I published this information, Armando's identity was a well-kept secret. That is simply false.

I reported on a very public dispute playing itself out in a very public forum that involved questions of journalistic integrity and conflicts of interest. That's my job. It had nothing to do with any personal desire to "silence" Armando.

UPDATE: I didn't link to the other web sites on which Armando shared identifying information because I'm trying not to inflame this situation any further. However, I linked to one of them my original post, and the others are easy to find. As I said, this was all a matter of public record long before I wrote anything.

06/08 01:14 PMShare