Liz McDougall, right, testifying at the City Council hearing. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

This afternoon, the Women's Issues Committee of the City Council held a hearing on a resolution proposed by Council members Brad Lander and Melissa Mark-Viverito that would call for Village Voice Media to shut down the "adult" section of its classified ad site Backpage.com. Village Voice Media, which publishes 13 alt-weeklies around the country including its the flagship Village Voice in New York, has faced mounting pressure over Backpage, which opponents claim encourages human trafficking. At today's hearing, the company's general counsel, Liz McDougall, spoke on behalf of Backpage and emotions ran high with tears, laughter and shouting all on display.

Prior to Ms. McDougall's testimony, a 16-year-old former victim of sex trafficking spoke about her experience with BackPage. To safeguard her identity, she was identified only as "Brianna" and gave her testimony from behind a white screen. "Brianna" said she got caught up in the sex trade at the age of 9 after she ran away from home and sought refuge with a friend's older brother.

"I found out he was a pimp and I tried to leave, but he didn't allow me," she said. "Although I've been exploited in several ways, the main way that he felt that he made the most money was through Backpage. At this time, I'm 12-years-old and Backpage sent me at least 35 dates a night. ... It was very painful for me because the dates I've gotten on Backpage have been the most violent. I just feel like this is something that needs to be taken down."

"Brianna" was several Backpage opponents who spoke at the hearing prior to Ms. McDougall and described how law enforcement agencies and youth organizations are seeing a growing number of trafficking cases that involve the site. When it was her turn to speak, Ms. McDougall, a cybercrime specialist with a background in fighting trafficking who joined the company in late February as the uproar over Backpage reached a fever pitch, acknowledged trafficking is a "social atrocity," but said the question surrounding Backpage are a "grossly complex issue." Ms. McDougall argued it's better to have ads for sex work appear on a site run by a company like Village Voice Media that is willing to work with law enforcement when requested rather than potentially moving to more shadowy corners of the internet.

"The reason that we take the position that taking the adult category on backpage is not an effective countermeasure to human trafficking is because ... the content and the advertising will migrate somewhere else," Ms. McDougall explained. "What terrifies me, is the notion that what is going to happen is that this content, this advertising is going to go to what is known as the 'black hat' web sites, the underground websites and, ultimately, the offshore websites."

Ms. McDougall highlighted her company's efforts to police the content on Backpage including sending about 2,600 reports of potential child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, hiring 100 staffers to monitor content on the site, cooperating with police investigations, imposing an age limit of 21 for site users and having multiple warning pages reiterating the age limit and illegality of prostitution. By charging for the site, Ms. McDougall said Village Voice Media was able to obtain information that could create a "financial trail" in cases where investigators were looking for a trafficker or one of their victims.

"We're working to establish best practices. We already are the industry leaders in doing that, both through our three-tiered moderation, including automatic filtering two levels of manual review, and the additional research that we do voluntarily for law enforcement to make sure that they have the most solid case possible to convict the traffickers," Ms. McDougall said.

Ms. McDougall didn't seem to sway the Council members, who aggressively criticized and questioned her following her testimony.

"You said you know that there is key parts to this problem and I think what you're missing is, you are a key part of the problem," Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, chair of the Women's Issues Committee said.

"I don't deny that Backpage is part of the problem, but the problem is the internet," Ms. McDougall said. "We are being abused by these criminals and we dont want to be abused by these criminals."

"I don't understand how you can be a victim when you're profiting," Ms. Ferreras responded. "I want to know what's the revenue that the Village Voice gets from their advertisements."

Ms. McDougall declined to reveal the revenues from the adult section of Backpage citing Village Voice Media's status as a private company. She also said she could not reveal the number of adult ads on the site each month and precisely how much that figure has grown in recent years.

"I'd like to have a dialogue with you, not a confrontation and not an argument," Ms. McDougall said to Ms. Ferreras, who was getting increasingly heated. "I don't appreciate being shouted at when I'm trying to have a conversation."

"I'm coming across a little loud, so lower my mic because I don't mean to shout," Ms. Ferreras said.

Things became even more contentious when Mr. Lander, who co-sponsored the resolution, got his chance to question Ms. McDougall. He asked her why, if Village Voice Media is proactive about rooting out trafficking on Backpage, the company has not made "one referral" to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office. Ms. McDougall began to answer, but Mr. Lander cut her off and accused her of avoiding his question.

"Are we here to have a sarcastic back and forth or would you like to exchange useful info?" she asked.

"Well, so far you haven't given us any information on the volume of what's happening on Backpage.com, you haven't given us any information on your profits," Mr. Lander said. "The way a hearing works is that we ask tough questions."

Mr. Lander then asked Ms. McDougall how her company could profess to be cooperating with law enforcement when they didn't heed a request from over 40 prosecutors in the National Association of Attorneys General to shut the adult section of Backpage.

"The only people that have asked us to stop taking the ads that you're deeming law enforcement were the Attorneys General," Ms. McDougall said. "The attorneys general, for all of their great wisdom, are not experts in cybercrime and they have had very political agendas in their demands."

Ms. McDougall's reply led to another contentious back-and-forth with Mr. Lander. She eventually attempted to stop taking his questions.

"I'm not going to answer questions if you just continue to interrupt me," Ms. McDougall said.

"I'm sorry, this is a City Council hearing and the Council member is asking questions," Ms. Ferreras replied. "I'm going to ask you to also be respectful of the Council member, he has not finished his questions, if you choose not to answer that question, you could say that for the testimony."

"I would appreciate if you would admonish him to stop interrupting me then," Ms. McDougall said.

"We don't admonish here, we are colleagues here," Ms. Ferreras responded incredulously. "He's going to ask every question that he needs to ask."

Mr. Lander's next question drew big laughs from the audience.

"Are you thinking about setting up a drug dealing section of the Backpage.com website? ... How about a gun trading or weapons trading section?" he asked. "By your logic, wouldn't they be extremely helpful in prosecuting drug dealing and weapons trading?"

Ms. McDougall said she wouldn't respond to "sarcasm or rhetorical questions like this."

"I'm here to talk about human trafficking online and I've explained to you how we can be a valuable tool for that," she said.

Mr. Lander concluded his questioning by saying he believes the increase in volume of trafficking cause by sites like Backpage negates any efforts the sites make to aid prosecutions.

"I do appreciate your being here," he said to Ms. McDougall. "You have made clear that, in your opinion, the issue is grossly complex. To me, I think it's pretty clear that it's just gross."

There were at least two other people at the hearing who were on Ms. McDougall's side. Representatives from the Sex Workers Outreach Project testified eliminating Backpage would simply increase the amounts of "marginalization" and "criminalization" sex workers currently face.

Though the Council members clearly seem predisposed to passing the resolution, it won't have much effect on Village Voice Media. Unlike bills, Council resolutions carry no legal weight and this would merely be an expression of support for shutting the site down.

"Whereas, Backpage.com’s adult section is facilitating sex trafficking and should alter its current practice; now, therefore, be it resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on Village Voice Media to shut down the adult section of its online classified site, Backpage.com, because it serves as a platform to traffic minors for sex."

According to a statement announcing the resolution, a "vast majority" of the sex trafficking cases prosecuted by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office involved Backpage. Both Councilman Lander and Councilwoman Mark-Viverito said that, by continuing to operate the "adult" section of the site VVM, which owns the Village Voice in New York and several other alt-weekly papers around the country, is profiting off the exploitation of children.

"I’m outraged that Village Voice Media is willing to make money off the exploitation of trafficking victims through Backpage.com’s adult services advertising," Mr. Lander said in the statement

"Village Voice Media must ensure that children and teenagers are not being abused in the commercial sex industry with help from their website," Ms. Mark Viverito said. "This resolution sends the message that we will not stand silent while this company profits from exploitation."

Anti-sex trafficking advocates claim Backpage is the mainonline site for prostitution and trafficking.

"Backpage is now the leading online facilitator of sex trafficking, operating in that least 10 other countries, generating an estimated $2 million per month-- all earned through a reckless disregard for human rights," Norma Ramos, Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women said in the statement.

The online classified site Craigslist closed its similar Adult Services section in September 2010 after substantial pressure from law enforcement officials and the public. In the absence of Craigslist, Backpage's market share for "adult" services has expanded.

In the fact of criticism over Backpage, Village Voice Media published an extensive series in their papers claiming anti-sex trafficking advocates exaggerate the extent of the sex trade in this country. As of this writing, Village Voice Media hasn't responded to a request for comment on this story.

My new profile photo. (via Photoshop master Richard Blakeley and Tom Selleck)

Earlier today, D.C. gossip rag FishbowlDC published a post declaring "an unusual trend" developing among female "campaign and White House reporters" using "provocative, sometimes sexy photographs of themselves for their Twitter accounts." As examples of this "trend," writer Betsy Rothstein cited The New York Times' Ashley Parker, Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, all three of whom have, in this reporter's opinion, absolutely normal, appropriate avatars.

Since Ms. Rothstein's post only accused women of spurring this "sexy" avatar trend, I found her post to be a clear example of the objectification and double standards that have existed far too long surrounding women in the workforce.

In order to express solidarity with my female colleagues who were falsely accused of having oversexed Twitter profiles, I decided to show Ms. Rothstein and FishbowlDC what a "provocative" avatar would actually look like. This afternoon, I changed my Twitter avatar from a fairly standard shot to an incredibly sexy mashup of myself and shirtless Tom Selleck. I also encouraged other male reporters to join me. So far, Village Voice editor Tony Ortega, City & State managing editor Andy Hawkins and media man about town Nick Rizzo have all answered the call. I sincerely hope others will join this movement.

Full Disclosure: From 2008 until 2009 this reporter worked as a contributing editor at FishbowlDC's sister site, FishbowlNY.

(Updated for maximum hilarity 3:13 pm)

-- Sergio Hernandez, reporter at the Village Voice, unhappy with City Hall's response to his FOIA request about the search for a schools chancellor.

Update: Spokeswoman for the city's law department said she is unable to comment on this.

Siegel will be their new city columnist and is taking over the space filled, admirably, by Tom Robbins, who is now teaching the next generation of reporters over that the CUNY graduate center. (Robbin worked alongside investigative reporter Wayne Barrett who left in January, after more than three decades at the paper, for a job at the Daily Beast and The Nation Institute.)

But don't let Siegel's age -- 33 -- fool you.

Siegel, a Brooklyn native, combines the historical perspective of a much older veteran (ask him what he was doing in the early and mid 1990s!) with the intelligent irreverence of an annoying hipster (he once demanded the New York Times write a correction after they reported that the New York Press endorsed Fernando Ferrer in the 2005 mayor's race. Even a casual reading of the endorsement -- written by Siegel -- would see he was kidding).

I probably would still be saying this even if Siegel wasn't an old friend and colleague of mine from the New York Press days.

And, in a Gchat interview yesterday (what should we call that kind of thing?), Siegel said he's eager to write a weekly column and, somewhat less reliant on using the blogging format as a way to make his mark on the scene.

Harry Siegel: Hey man

Azi Paybarah: yo. congratulations

Harry: Thanks

Azi Paybarah: all right, first things first.

what's the name of the column going to be and the name of the blog?

Harry Siegel: Funny, but b/c of Voice style, the name of the column will be

Harry Siegel and for blogging.

I'll be contributing to Runnin' Scared.

Azi Paybarah: you had more creative names back in the NY Press Days

Harry Siegel: Azimandias!

Azi Paybarah: ssshhhh about that.

So, will this be a reprisal of the NY Press you were building not too long ago,

or are you picturing something different for this

- what do we call it? - column / blogging operation you're doing?

Harry Siegel: This is going to be a straight column, so

I think comparing it to what I was doing as an editor at the Press is apples and oranges.

And while I'll be blogging some, I'm really excited about the weekly column part --

-- it's a form that still packs a real punch when done right, and I is under-represented these days as the blog/instant news cycle model has ascended.

Excited to have a chance to hold and develop thoughts and stories, and to give them context

Azi Paybarah: despite your youthful age (33 is still young, right?),

you've been around for a while.

what's your take on the NY media and how it's been covering Bloomberg? Because, you know, sadly, we don't have columns from Joyce Purnick, or Clyde Haberman, or even the ideologically consistent New York Sun, or, needless to say, Village Voice veterans Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins.

Harry: there is big hole to fill in institutional knowledge. DC has gained at NY's expense --

so just looking at the New Yorkers at Politico: Ben Smith, and Gregg Birnbaum, and Glenn Thrush, and Maggie Haberman, and Edward-Isaac Dovere, and Allison Silver (formerly Nia, who is now at the Post) and Reid Epstein of Newsday. And, until recently, me.

I'm sure I'm missing a few people, but you get the idea.

So yes I think there's space here, especially for columnists.

I'm not sure who writes long form about New York who really captures the city and its voice these days.

And yes, I am 33.

Azi Paybarah: think you'll score a Bloomberg interview?

Harry Siegel: Lol

I hope so, we'll see

But I also think there's a lot to be said for looking at fundamentals, rather than personalities.

And being sure what access you do have pays off in terms of information, which ain't always the case

Azi Paybarah: any advice for blogging junkies like me, who, in some ways, are now sharing turf with you?

Harry Siegel: Hmm -- gimmie 1 sec to think about that

Azi Paybarah: in the meantime, let me try another way into the question!

what are the strengths of writing a weekly column, rather than, say, a constantly updated blog?

Harry Siegel: Dangerous to say before actually doing the column - but hopefully, I'm going to find out.

Thinking about it beforehand, I hope it's a chance to have things whole cloth, rather than in ever smaller news bits that can create proportional tricks, and defy contextualization.

Like DH Lawrence said about Joyce and Wolfe, as best I remember: It's like they're taking consciousness and ripping it up into finer and finer bits until they can only be distinguished by smell.

Mostly I hope that having access to Runnin Scared means I can blog a good deal when there's news,

but avoid the churnolism regular blogging tends to encourage

Azi Paybarah: aaaand end scene.