The New York Times notes that two of the hottest quotes in recent months---Bill Clinton’s tirade against a Vanity Fair article about his post-presidential life and Barack Obama’s comment about 'bitter' Pennsylvanians clinging to guns or religion---came from blogger Mayhill Fowler armed with a digital audio recorder. In neither instance---the conversation with Clinton, nor her attendance as a contributor at an Obama fundraiser closed to mainstream media—did Fowler identify herself as a blogger as a mainstream journalist would have been expected to do.

If she had, it’s unlikely she would have been privy to the unvarnished comments of Clinton and Obama. Is this a good thing? Will this lead to a relaxing of the rules for mainstream journalists? Will this promote transparency or will politicians simply (attempt to) exercise more control over their public utterances?