Prompt's TechBlog

What better way to start the new year than with a good old sex and sleaze scandal?

On 1st January, the author of the infamous 'Girl With A One-Track Mind' sexblog - now a bestselling book - posted the text of an email she had received last summer from a senior editor at the Sunday Times.

The Girl blogs under the pseudonym of 'Abby Lee', but the newspaper had discovered her real identity. Acting news editor Nicholas Hellen sent her an email, threatening to post unflattering photos and to disclose her mother's name, if Abby didn't co-operate with the paper's plan to 'out' her in a sensational article.

When the resulting article appeared, back in August, opinion in the blogosphere was divided. While many bloggers expressed sympathy for Abby, many others felt that she should have expected to forfeit her anonymity in return for having a bestselling book published. There was some antipathy towards the Sunday Times, but the consensus was that this was the nature of the news media, and the hubbub died down.

That would have been the end of it, if Abby hadn't recently posted Hellen's email on her blog for all to see. Its sleazy tone reveals the way national newspapers go about getting their stories, and has caused outrage among bloggers and fans of Abby's blog and book. The story has been taken up by the Guardian - whose opinion on Hellen's approach is interestingly ambivalent - as well as VNUnet, and several widely read UK blogs.

Nicholas Hellen may regret sending that email. Indignant posts from across the blogosphere have contrived to make Girl With A One Track Mind's post the top Google search result for his name. In the world of Web 2.0, even the most private of emails can be published to the world at the touch of a button. News journalists just might have to start rethinking their tactics.


tags: nicholas hellen | abby lee | GWAOTM