David Goldstein: Will Blog For Beer: Money, Politics and the Ethics of Blogging

I have a career-ending confession to make. During the heat of Washington state's US senate campaign, a senior Cantwell staffer once bought me a beer. Oh sure, we were both understandably giddy after a successful campaign event. And a little drunk. But nothing can really excuse my stunning lapse of journalistic ethics.

Had I disclosed this compensation at the time, I suppose my credibility might have survived tattered but intact. But now that I've made my mea culpa, it's hard to imagine how my once-loyal readers could ever trust me again. Nor should they.

Or at least, that seems to be the thinking of some of our nation's "professional" journalists.