I read BAR and Naked Capitalism regularly, and they are pretty pissed off about the PorN list and WaPos role in promoting it. They argue, (and it seems pretty reasonable to me) that the journalistic ethics of promoting a list from a site that no one had heard of, that had no traffic and doesn’t say who it is, is pretty much the same as using a cutout. If WaPo hasn’t written the piece the “harm” wouldn’t have happened. So blaming it on the “source” seems pretty feeble. Also if you read the original piece it was an offense against logic - intentional or unintentional propaganda? Really?
Here is the latest Naked Capitalism demand for a retraction.
In terms of journalistic ethics, the usual commenters seem to be affirming that WaPo behaved badly.
