A journalism student who wrote to a Washington Post columnist recently to ask how he built his "personal brand" got a very public and provocative response. Gene Weingarten wrote a column condemning the way "branding" is ruining journalism and criticizing the professor who issued the assignment.

"The best way to build a brand is to take a three-foot length of malleable iron and get one end red-hot. Then, apply it vigorously to the buttocks of the instructor who gave you this question. You want a nice, meaty sizzle," he wrote.

A journalism student who wrote to a Washington Post columnist recently to ask how he built his "personal brand" got a very public and provocative response. Gene Weingarten wrote a column condemning the way "branding" is ruining journalism and criticizing the professor who issued the assignment.

"The best way to build a brand is to take a three-foot length of malleable iron and get one end red-hot. Then, apply it vigorously to the buttocks of the instructor who gave you this question. You want a nice, meaty sizzle," he wrote.

The rest of the column outlines why he thinks the push toward personal branding is redefining and ruining the craft.

His comments prompted a debate online, led by Steve Buttry, whose blog post was headlined "Gene Weingarten knows branding (even though he scorns it)

That post drew a response from Weingarten himself (You're wrong….) and the teacher who issued the assignment started it all.