Let us be clear: this is not a fight between ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. This not about blogger vengeance or a mob mentality wanting to lay in to print media. This is about journalistic integrity, immorality, and a few unethical hacks desperate to make their mark in the newspaper industry.
The digital age has given people access to instant information, interactive feedback, and the freedom to reply, so the vast, angry, Internet response to The Sunday Times outing me, and, indeed, last week’s outing of fellow anonymous blogger Night Jack, by sister paper The Times was not a bloggers vs. journalists battle. Instead, it was simply a reaction of disgust that journalistic standards have sunk so low: is this what ‘news’ reporting has come to?
The journalist who outed me has now justified doing so by stating my anonymity was a “marketing gimmick”; this just smacks of pathetic desperation. My writing a sexblog and book was hardly newsworthy – it’s not like I was writing about anything criminal, or shagging a politician – and my being anonymous for almost three years, until I was outed, doesn’t support this supposed pre-meditated book-selling ploy.
I had my reasons for wanting to remain anonymous, as all anon bloggers do, and did everything in my power to remain so; sadly that wasn’t enough for this keen journalist, eager to get her foot on the quality journalistic ladder.
Gallery Carre
