At this writing, the identities of four of those journalists haven't been publicly disclosed, and it's unclear whether those journalists have been or will be informed. So those of us who have covered the activities of HP's board, especially as they relate to the resignation of former CEO Carly Fiorina, naturally wonder if we're on the list.

In my case, I wrote an editorial in February 2005 in which I took a tongue-in-cheek approach in expressing my opinion on Fiorina's dismissal. Here's an excerpt:

I would just love to have been in the room when Carly Fiorina got the word that she was getting the boot. I have a hunch the discussion with Hewlett-Packard's board went something like this:

Board Member 1: "Good morning, Carly. You're probably wondering why we called you here this morning. ... Pat, do you want to take it from here?"

Board Member 2: "Um ... sure. You see, Carly, the thing is, as you know, things haven't been going all that well for us lately, and ... well ... um ... Dick, you expressed it well during the dry run ..."