An issue for the Press Council

I, like many, was somewhat surprised that after blogging anonymously the waitress revealed her name to the Herald for a story this morning.

Ms Bailey blogs at The Daily Blog that her participation was gained under basically false pretenses, that she thought the journalist was there as a PR advisor to the owners.

One the face of it, there are serious ethical issues here. If I was unkind, I would say Dirty Media, not Dirty Politics.

But so far we have only had one side of the story. We have not heard what the owners say, and the Herald staff involved.

To my mind the most appropriate thing to do would be for Ms Bailey to complain to the Press Council. They can investigate the issue, and after taking statements from all parties, determine if the Herald’s behaviour was a breach of media standards.

UPDATE: The Herald has responded at the end of the story linked above.