Bloggers bite back at 'bullying' hack

Campaign against Sunday Times journalist hits Google rankings

An online row has broken out between bloggers and a journalist at the Sunday Times.

Abby Lee, a pseudonym used by the writer of the award winning Girl with a One Track Mind blog who has published a best selling book of the same name, was last year outed by the newspaper. 

Lee wrote about the experience and disclosed an email sent to her by Sunday Times journalist Nicholas Hellen. 

The email reads: "We propose to publish the fact that you are 33 and live in [my address] in London, and that your mother [her name] is a [her address]-based [her profession].

"The article includes extracts from your book and blog, relevant to your career in the film industry. We also have a picture of you, taken outside your flat.

"Unfortunately, the picture is not particularly flattering and might undermine the image that has been built up around your persona as Abby Lee.

"I think it would be helpful to both sides if you agreed to a photo shoot today so that we can publish a more attractive image.

"To avoid any doubt we will, of course, publish the story as it is if we do not hear from you."

The email outraged fellow bloggers, who have referred to it as 'blackmail' and 'odious', and have published the contact details of Hellen so that others can register their disapproval.

The resulting furore has made the blog the top ranked search return for Hellen on Google. 

Lee explained in an interview with vnunet.com that she posted the email because she found it "of an intimidating, coercive nature", and wanted to highlight what she feels are unethical tactics by involving her family in the story.

She said that she was tempted to cooperate, but that her mother advised her to "hang tough".

"Within a day or so of my posting the email from the Sunday Times on my blog, other bloggers had picked it up and begun linking it. It just snowballed from there really," said Lee.

"I've been gobsmacked how many bloggers have got on board, especially the ones who've openly stated they're not fans of my blog or writing, but who have been so outraged and shocked by the newspaper's approach to me, that they felt compelled to voice their support."

Before the outing Lee was a successful assistant director in the film industry, working on one of the Harry Potter films, Batman Begins and Lara Croft Tomb Raider.

Since the outing Lee claims that she has been unable to work in the industry, as being made notorious as a sex writer was a "terminal handicap" in a male dominated industry.

However, the journalist at the centre of the storm has defended his actions. Hellen told vnunet.com that the email did not contain precise address information, just locations, and that the very use of an anonymous writer was a publishing "puzzle".

"The whole [Abby Lee] thing was a puzzle created by the publishers, just like Belle du Jour," he said. 

"That's what drummed up the interest. What could have been the response from the publishers is 'Congratulations, you've found it out.'"

He added that, as a journalist who was legally liable for his copy, he had a duty to make sure that they had the right person, otherwise he and his paper could face heavy fines.

However, Lee disagrees. "I think the email I printed highlighted one thing: it's not about my being outed or whether my story was 'newsworthy'. Rather, it's about shattering the image that people might have of the press by showing the lack of morality within that world," she said.

"Perhaps it opened a window on a part of the media that others not in that field may never see: a lack of ethics, dignity and respect for the other people/sources involved in the journalist's pursuit of the 'story'.

"It seems that the common feeling in the blog world is that if this is the level journalism has come to, in this day and age, then things need to change."