Reporters Find New Outlet, and Concerns, in Web Logs

September 23, 2002 2:49 PM

Reporters Find New Outlet, and Concerns, in Web Logs according the Gray Old Lady today. I never read the blog by Steve Olafson, a.k.a. Banjo Jones, but it was shut down at the request of his employer, the Houston Chronicle. Today's NYT article confirms he was fired over it. Other journalists mentioned: Eric Alterman, Dan Gillmor, Mickey Kaus, and Sheila Lennon (professional blog | personal blog).
posted by tbc (4 comments total)

Don't forget Andrew Sullivan.
posted by swerdloff at 3:52 PM on September 23, 2002

I didn't, but I didn't list him because he wasn't mentioned in the article. Should we really be surprised that the Times would leave him out? :-)
posted by tbc at 4:27 PM on September 23, 2002

Writing under the pseudonym Banjo Jones, Mr. Olafson had at times used his site to poke fun at the local politicians he was covering. He even critiqued The Chronicle. "It gets constricting at times to write for a newspaper," he said. "They tell you what you can and can't write. You don't have those restrictions on the Web."

Hmmm... I don't feel as bad for this guy as I did for for Dooce when she lost her job for blogging. If you are inhibiting your ability to do your job (and openly mocking people on whom you need to report/source from && your employer, to boot, counts, in this instance, as inhibiting) -- unless you work at an ironic publication (any left?), you shouldn't feel overly sad about leaving the place.

Still, even though I don't think Banjo has too much to harp on, stories like this should strike a chord in all of us who hope that we can have a voice outside the cube.
posted by minnesotaj at 5:08 PM on September 23, 2002

Also being discussed at Blogroots.
posted by me3dia at 8:13 PM on September 23, 2002