An idea for food blogger ethics

Brooke Burton, who recently moved from Pizzeria Mozza to Suzanne Goin's new Tavern in Brentwood and blogs at Foodwoolf, and Leah Greenstein (SpicySaltySweet.com) have proposed a code of ethics for food bloggers. It's akin to the codes that the best print critics follow, plus a little more. Common sense for the most part, but I can see one snag right off: if bloggers and print writers stopped stroking the chefs they consider cool and like to bask in the auras of, there might be many fewer posts out there. Excerpts:

We will write about the culinary world with the care of a professional. We will not use the power of our blog as a weapon. We will stand behind our claims. If what we say or show could potentially affect someone’s reputation or livelihood, we will post with the utmost thought and due diligence.

We will not hide behind total anonymity...

If we are writing about something or someone we are emotionally connected to, we will be up front about it....

When something is given to us or offered at a deep discount because of our blog, we will disclose that information.

There's a short item about it today on the New York Times food blog.