Review on Alex Koppelman's "Vanity Fair piece about Bill Clinton controversy" (Salon, 6/3/08)

Alex Koppelman of Salon provided great insight regarding the Bill Clinton controversy and Vanity Fair piece. He's right that Fowler's ethics are questionable. She didn't identify herself as a reporter, and she also slammed the Vanity Fair writer as having done a "hatchet" job. I agree though, that if she had identified herself as a blogger for OffTheBus, Clinton probably wouldn't have answered. And I don't think that would have worked anyway with the way she went about getting Clinton's attention. In the heat of the moment, I don't know if either Fowler or Clinton realized Fowler was a reporter, let alone a blogger. Fowler was just a normal citizen, making a statement.

Any other journalist would never bash another reporter's work to preface a question. Well, hopefully. But Fowler isn't a traditional journalist; she continues to push the boundaries with Huffington Post as a "citizen journalist." Can she be trusted? Well, I suppose we'll have to hear her tape recorder to know for sure.