My timing was not ideal.

Last Thursday, Fortune reported that a number of guest contributors on Forbes.com, Seeking Alpha, Wall Street Cheat Sheet and other sites were allegedly paid by an investor relations firm to write columns as part of pump and dump stock schemes.

That same day, I published an Op Ed on the website of the Observer with a full throated defense of the Forbes’ 1000+ contributor network as a successful example of what I call “social journalism” – a hybrid model of content from professional journalists, paid and unpaid contributors and readers. I’d been the first in mainstream media to bring just such a platform to life when I ran FastCompany.com in 2008 and I’ve remained a big advocate (even though after I left the print editors reverted to a standard journalism site.)

Today, social journalism is popping up everywhere and in many different variations. Aside from…