Speaking of anonymous...

The L.A. Times says it's suspending one of its columnists for using the anonymity of the Internet to pretend to be somebody else.

Namely, Michael Hiltzik pretended to be his own best buddy. Using the name Mikekoshi, he praised and defended himself without revealing that it was, in fact, self-praise and self-defense.

Here is what the Times' editors has to say about their decision:

But employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of The Times' ethics guidelines: Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times. This rule applies equally to the newspaper and the Web world.

Hiltzik defended himself in one of his last postings by way of the "but everybody's doing it" argument. He noted that his accuser, an L.A. assistant district attorney named Patrick Frey, was blogging under the pseudonym Patterico. At one point, Hiltzik noted, he was debating with people using pseudonyms like Eddie Haskell and Jim Rockford.

When are reporters going to learn? There are two standards in our world. When Joe Schmoe is caught lying, it's a blemish on his character. When a reporter lies it's a blemish on his profession. If your job is to convey truthful information, you can't have people thinking you're flexible with the truth. If you lie about small things, how can you be counted on not to lie about big things?

What's worse for Hiltzik is he was caught because Mikekoshi and he had the exact same IP address. Shoulda gone to the public library or an Internet cafe.

By the way, I first read this on the Blogging Journalist.