The New York Times has an article that retells how blogs played a role in forcing Eason Jordan resignation from CNN. The most disturbing part is buried at the bottom of the story. The comments Jordan made were at a session that was officially "off the record". Honestly, I haven't followed much of what was going on with this because it seems a non-story.

It is, however, disconcerting that a journalist, be it citizen journalist/blogger or professional journalist, does not respect the idea of being off the record. Stop for a minute and consider if Deep Throat had any reason to believe that Bob Woodward would not keep his word and protect the source would he have talked?

The tide of media-watching in new forms of media are great. There is no question that the ability to quickly get a counterpoint out and have it shared is of critical importance. There remain however, tenants of old media that we must keep if we the journalists of the new media age are to be effective. Dan Gillmor wrote on the end of objectivity and critically named the tenants of thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency in its place. This is a positive transition.

Any journalist, regardless of how compensated or trained, should be ashamed that an off the record comment made it into print. If we cannot have places for off-the-record discussion where will we explore unpopular ideas? If I can't tell a reporter off the record or on background what influences my thinking and biases how can I expect they will get an accurate and how can they believe they are getting the whole story? There has long been an understanding between journalists and the people they cover of these different types of information. If I can't give someone a lead without expecting that it is acceptable for them to put it in print with my name next to it they won't get the lead. Shame on DAVOS for taping a session that is officially off the record. Congratulations to them for refusing to release it. It is too bad that one blogger improperly posted something that was said off the record. It is much worse that instead of pointing out the error of that person other bloggers jumped on the bandwagon and started hyping the story.