The L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched their new blog "The Source" which describes itself as "your window into what's happening at Metro. We'll be writing about agency news, funding and policy issues, and how to get the most out of transit and Los Angeles."

The editor of "The Source" is former LA Times transit and city hall reporter Steve Hymon. Fred Dennstedt, a.k.a Fred Camino of MetroRiderLA.com will write for the new site. LAist notes that "It's very common for reporters to cross the line and become communicators for agencies they once reported on and investigated."

Hymon remarks on his new role in an introductory post:

Local media has taken more than a few hits (I was one casualty although I prefer to look at it as the long-awaited liberation of my soul). At the same time, the Internet has provided government a way to directly speak to taxpayers without having to go through the media. No longer can government complain the middleman got it wrong or wasn't interested in doing a story.

Readers will naturally wonder if an agency can honestly write about itself. Here's what I can tell you: The agency still very much wants and needs press coverage and invites and needs outside scrutiny. As for the Source, I'm not here to invent some new form of propaganda, nor am I the agency's new inspector general. The goal is to honestly and fairly explain how Metro works.