Writing "From the Left Coast" at National Review Online, Cathy Seipp criticizes Times editor John Carroll's recent "pseudo-journalism" speech and defends her friend Jill Stewart, who was left unnamed in his talk.

Well, who is she — this damned, infernal freelance columnist who managed to hoodwink even the generally trustworthy CNN? For the record, Jill Stewart is a friend of mine (we pseudo-journalists believe in owning up to biases, even if real ones don't always), and although it's convenient for the Times to dismiss her merely as a freelancer, her weekly column does appear in (real? pseudo?) papers like the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orange County Register, and the L.A. Daily News, among others...

* Also: It's the second half of Seipp's media column in Thursday's CityBeat.

Speaking of Seipp, she is billed as host of a May 29 panel discussion thrown by the American Cinema Foundation and L.A. Press Club at the American Film Institute on Western Avenue. Actually two panels: At 7 p.m. "The Real Tinsel: Hollywood Insiders Take On Hollywood" will include Allan Mayer of Sitrick and Co., writer-producer-author Rob Long, Drudge Report operative and author Andrew Breitbart and Mike Sullivan of Paulist Productions. At 9:30 "The Real Story: L.A. Bloggers Take On Politics and the Media" will feature Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, Slate's Mickey Kaus, Matt Welch, Roger L. Simon and the blogger known as Moxie.

Previously on L.A. Observed: Carroll redux