Shaun Pierce, a producer at Christian radio station WORD-FM, writes a personal Web log, dealing with issues of religion and politics and rarely mentioning his work. But when Marty Minto, onetime host of the station's afternoon talk show, was fired a month ago, Pierce had a dilemma on his hands.

		Related coverage Online diaries and discussions serving as cheap but effective marketing tool

Should he address the issue on his Web site and discuss why Minto was fired?

Or was it best to let this sleeping dog lie?

It's a tough call. Cyberspace is home to millions of Web loggers, or "bloggers" for short, the catchall term for people who keep online diaries dealing with politics, life, religion, music -- and sometimes their careers.

Discussing family life with a worldwide audience may get you in trouble with the mom or the ex-girlfriend, but if you bring your employer into it, and attach your name to it, there can be more serious consequences.

A flight attendant for Delta Airlines was fired last year for provocative photos she posted on her Web log -- she was wearing the attendant's uniform in the photos. This year, a Google employee also was fired for discussing company life on his private blog, even though he didn't divulge anything proprietary.

Last week, WTAE anchor Scott Baker landed in the news when he posted a comment on a new Web site launched by political commentator Arianna Huffington. A writer for the Philadelphia Daily News brought the post to light, questioning the perceived politics behind it.

Baker's post, which was supposed to be humorous but was interpreted as braggadocio, was titled, "I'm the Guy Who Taught Jeff Gannon Everything He Knows About Journalism." Jeff Gannon, real name James Guckert, is the conservative online reporter who covered the White House using a fake name, then resigned after his bizarre and sordid work history was revealed. Baker, it seems, taught Guckert in a media seminar.

Blogging has been around for years, but the practice is just now reaching a critical mass -- one poll says that 7 percent of Americans write their own blog. So if a company has 15 employees, there's a good chance that one worker has a personal blog. And while most companies have rules about giving away trade secrets, most don't have specific policies about mouthing off on privately run Web diaries.

Which brings us back to Pierce, the radio producer.

Dare he?

He did. One of several Web log entries to address the firing said Minto was a friend, but went on to write that he was not fired for his views on the pope -- something Minto had said in several subsequent interviews. (The station, in an official memo, said Minto "tended to unnecessarily alienate listeners.") Minto, on another Web site, said that Pierce gets away with his blog chatter partly because he's Roman Catholic, while Minto, an Evangelical, got canned.

In short, the whole thing turned ugly, first in cyberspace. But that sort of thing can end up ugly in the workspace, too.

"All of the sudden, there was some national attention on what I was doing," said Pierce, 33. "If you think you're blogging in private, you're fooling yourself."

Somebody, somewhere, is reading. That's why Pierce, who is still employed at the radio station, now has placed a large disclaimer at the top of his page that says, "opinions expressed herein are exclusive to Powerblog! and do not represent the views of any employer, organization or outside entity."

Other bloggers use similar disclaimers, if not to limit their own liability then at least to make it clear to readers that the blogger is separate from the employee, even if they do occupy the same body.

Dave Copeland, a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer, used to write for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and found out that even with the disclaimer, seemingly harmless remarks can end up being brought to the attention of your boss.

When Copeland, 32, was updating his personal blog more regularly, he used to write about local politics, current events and the state of journalism. Once, he remarked about a Fox news reporter who used a service called ProfNet, which allows journalists to send an e-mail query to thousands of professors and experts around the country.

Used well, ProfNet is a tool that helps reporters find knowledgeable sources. Used lazily, ProfNet allows reporters to collect a quote that reinforces the story already in their head. Copeland noted that the Fox reporter was searching for a source to tell her that colleges are too liberal these days, and suggested that this either told us something about the reporter or the network assigning the story.

That was accompanied by a post that angered ProfNet, and didn't exactly thrill the journalists who use it: "As a service to readers of davecopeland.com, I'm starting a new feature where I'll be posting actual ProfNet queries from actual journalists. This is your chance to read the news before it's news!"

Long story short -- Copeland's Web log post was circulated back and forth across the country many times, ProfNet called Copeland's boss, and he and the boss had a nice chat.

"They were looking for something to be done to me," Copeland said, and by that he means that ProfNet would have liked to see him get punished.

He was not, and his boss was OK with the blog, he said.

"I can understand why a news organization would be a bit wary of that," he said, referring both to his predicament and Baker's, from WTAE. "If they're really going to live up to a standard of objectivity, then I'm on my blog -- how objective am I?"

But it's not just reporters who must avoid the appearance of bias. White collar employees who avidly express a political opinion, right or left, risk offending their clients, which in turn will offend the bosses.

That's why Shadyside's Daniel Berczik, 44, didn't get into blogging last year, once he accepted a new job. Previously, he was a broker with Morgan Stanley.

"I had a long-standing interest in politics [but] they don't like their brokers to, you know, voice opinions," he said. "They don't even like you volunteering for campaigns -- you have to get a special dispensation."

When called, Morgan Stanley's New York City press office could not confirm whether this policy is, or was, in effect.

Now, his blog deals almost entirely with politics, with the occasional opera review. Citing the blog-related firings, Berczik said that Delta and Google were treading on First Amendment turf. "I think it was an overreaction on the part of the company," he said. "I understand the companies are leery of having their employees have blogs, but what would be the difference in me writing a letter-to-the-editor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette?"