Tim Rutten writes in the Los Angeles Times:
The news of Villaraigosa’s marital difficulties was broken by a blogger, Luke Ford, then fleshed out by the Daily News, which immediately posted the story on its website. The paper’s editorial page editor set the tone for much of the subsequent commentary by immediately putting up a hysterical screed that, believe it or not, included terms you probably haven’t seen since the last time you read "Elmer Gantry," words like "homewrecker" and "repent." All of this has been carefully cataloged and funneled into the national and foreign press by Kevin Roderick’s widely read LA Observed website.
How strongly has online journalism driven this story?
Well, as of Friday, the Los Angeles Times has a special page of its website devoted to all aspects of the affair, one titled "Summer of Love." Accounts and comments about the mayor’s difficulties are the most viewed stories on The Times’ online edition and that of the Daily News. If you think that doesn’t get noticed in both papers’ newsrooms, you’re running a couple of years behind.
Depending on how you look at things, we’re witnessing the digital execution of either decency and discretion or of a culture of excessive deference to power. Take your pick, though the truth probably resides, as it so often does, somewhere in between.
