Reuters Editor Hacks L.A. Times?

Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys is accused of assisting the hacktivist group Anonymous in carrying out a hack job on the Los Angeles Times website.

Matthew Keys, 26, an ex-producer for Tribune-owned Sacramento TV station KTXL, has been indicted on charges of conspiring with Anonymous hackers in the vandalizing of the news website owned by Tribune.

Keys is now charged with three separate hacking-related counts.  He faces 10 years of hard time in prison and $750,000 in fines if convicted of all three crimes.

U.S. federal prosecutors allege that Keys provided a Tribune web server username and password to hackers from Anonymous, who proceeded to alter an L.A. Times online news article headline to display, "Pressure builds in House to elect CHIPPY 1337."

Tribune claims to have suffered in excess of $5,000 in damages responding to the Anonymous attack back in 2010.

Shockingly, the indictment offers that Matthew Keys wrote a Reuters blog post about the L.A. Times hacking, though he blogged as if he was informed of the incident and not involved himself.

News bloggers are buzzing that Keys could not have had a more "reliable source" for his juicy blog post, indeed.

For the record, Reuters knew nothing of the incident whatsoever until Keys was charged by law enforcement authorities.

Tribune and the L.A. Times could have simply sued Matthew Keys in civil court but it sure looks like they want TAXPAYERS to cover all the expenses for his incarceration --- for a decade!

Tribune or Tribunal?  That is the question.