What are the ethics of blogs? The market will make the call.

In every mass medium, there's a contract between the writer and the reader. As long as the writer keeps the bargain--at its most elemental, to deliver the truth--the reader keeps consuming the medium.

So what's the deal with Internet journalism? Readers and media companies are apparently still vetting the contract--and Los Angeles has recently emerged as a venue for this indirect "negotiating" between producers and consumers.

Exhibit A: On April 20, the Los Angeles Times suspended the Golden State blog on its Web site because columnist Michael Hiltzik admitted he posted material (to his own blog) under fictitious names.

Hiltzik knows the business, and ought to know the rules. He's been a financial, political and tech writer at the Times for 20 years, and in 1999 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize along with his colleague Chuck Phillips for a series exposing corruption in the music industry.

In one of his last postings, titled "On Anonymity in Blogland," Hiltzik explained his rationale that made-up names have become a standard feature of Internet communication, so he was playing by the rules rather than violating them. He even hinted that the culprit was rival blog-host Patrick Frey (known online as Patterico), who discovered and publicized Hiltzik's real identity. By selectively identifying one commentator (while ignoring others with bogus monikers), Frey violated the privacy of his online critics, according to Hiltzik.

Exhibit B: A new online magazine has started for the advertising industry, with the promise to provide "original exclusive articles, rants, and insight from industry professionals." The Torrance-based site (www.AdvertisingIndustryNewswire.com) seeks articles by industry leaders, working agency professionals and people with a marketing degree.

"If you would like to rant about the advertising and marketing world, and have some credibility to do so, we'd love to hear from you," the site announced.

Both exhibits--one a canceled blog, the other a start-up trade site--show attempts to rewrite the reader-writer contract of traditional print media. Trade magazines may have a point of view, but they don't feature "rants." Newspaper columnists don't write pseudonymous letters to their own column.

On the other hand, colorful nicknames are the norm in chat rooms. Parents tell their children never to reveal their real names online. And if people want to go to a special-interest site for rants, the Web producers are merely satisfying a demand of the market.

It's too early to say how readers will judge AdvertisingIndustryNewswire.com, and the reaction of bloggers to the Golden State closure has been mixed. Some thought Hiltzik fortunate to retain his job (he was suspended indefinitely by the Times), while rival Patterico says that he never expected such harsh discipline. In other words, the contract was ambiguous.

The Times editors stood firm on the old roles. When it canceled the blog, the Times wrote that bogus-name blogging "is a violation of The Times ethics guidelines, which requires editors and reporters to identify themselves when dealing with the public. The policy applies to both the print and online editions of the newspaper. The Times is investigating the postings."

But eventually the market--not editors or regulators--will decide the ethics of Blogland. Clearly a market exists for online rants and flaming blogs, so hopefully the investigation will clarify the contract and let the market carry on.