There is a fascinating story developing in Albany, New York. In 2004 a blog called Albany Eye began covering the world of local news media in Albany. It was well written and often highly critical of the local television, radio, and newspaper outlets. The website became extremely popular, winning several awards as the best local blog in the Capital Region. [link] [link]
But Albany Eye was also controversial and a mystery. The blog made disparaging remarks and harsh criticism of the local news media but was written anonymously. So who was the secret Albany Eye? With great insight into the workings of local newsrooms, speculation strongly suggested that blogger behind Albany Eye must be an insider, somebody working within the media itself. Taking pot shots at your competition behind a veil of anonymity is bad enough, but since Albany Eye attacked all Albany news organizations, he/she would also be guilty of treason for sabotaging his/her own employer.
Then this past December Albany Eye slipped up. The unknown mystery blogger accidentally posted a big exclusive news story that WNYT-TV (the local NBC affiliate) was working on for their noon newscast hours before the segment actually aired. Not only was it now obvious that the blogger must be an employee of WNYT-TV, but only a limited number of people had access to some of the specific details found in the Albany Eye blog post so the list of suspects were quickly narrowed to just a few. Even the Times Union (the local newspaper) began investigating and it didn’t take long for until they caught the individual responsible for leaking the exclusive story, not to mention the years of previous attacks on the local media. The name hasn’t been made public and it’s not essential to this story. The station forced him/her to shut down their popular blog immediately.
But where one mystery ends, a new twist brings a new mystery to this story. Since the Albany Eye terminated his blog at Blogspot.com, somebody else immediately swooped in to snatch up the recently vacated popular website address. Now the Albany Eye blog is back up and running again. It’s got the same name, same look, and same harsh commentary on the Albany media scene – but now a new mystery blogger in charge of it. So now who’s the new Albany Eye?
Read more about this subject at timesunion.com.
Update:
It’s now later the same day that I posted this and already a new interesting twist that just happened moments ago. The old Albany Eye has replaced the new Albany Eye. Aside from a different bio section and distinctly different writing style, the new AE which appeared about a week ago was technically a brand new blog posing as the original blog. As such it had lost all of it’s previous post in the archives from before he/she was caught on December 15th 2006. As of a few minutes ago the original AE blog is now back again, along with years worth of old posts in the archives.
The second to last post is the notorious December 15th goof where he/she prematurely posted an exclusive photo of Trey Anastasio’s arrest. The last post on January 5th says, “Thanks! A million thanks to everyone who supported Albany Eye since 2004. We will be away until further notice.” So, what, is he/she back again just to quit again? WTF?
