LA Times disciplines columnist for using pseudonym on the internet

The Los Angeles Times has discontinued the column and blog of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Hiltzik. He is being reassigned after he serves a suspension. His offense: posting things on the Internet using assumed names.

The newspaper says he did not commit any [tag]ethical violations[/tag] in his newspaper column and did not have inaccuracies in his blog. However, the Times says that he violated ethical guidelines of the paper, including:

Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times.

It is reported that Hiltzik used a [tag]pseudonym[/tag] to post one comment on his LA Times blog and multiple pseudonyms to post comments on other websites that dealt with his column and the newspaper. The posting under pseudonyms was first alleged by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey, who also writes a blog.

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