Sunday, January 08, 2006
The Army reaches out to bloggers
Donald Sensing is reporting that the Army is reaching out to bloggers, and beginning to offer, via a PR firm, exclusive content to a select group of bloggers - of which Don Sensing is one (and of which I am not.)
It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I'm sure it will, to some extent, feed the Washington Post's delusion that somehow we're on the payroll. And then there's the Daily Kos fantasy that we all get a set of talking points form the Headquarters of the Rovian Borg Collective.
Can the milblogosphere accept exclusive content from the Army and still maintain a reputation for independence and the credibility that goes along with it?
I was hesitant even to post a link to CENTCOM, for fear that it would be seen as an endorsement one way or the other, although it was good to see CENTCOM reaching out for an alternative outlet to the public when they wrote and asked if I'd link to their website.
Here's what I'd like to see:
Right now, Stephen Hayes is relying on eleven sources who won't go on the record and on documents he can't produce.
If the military would like to put milblogs on the map, then the thing to do is get an official to go on the record confirming (or denying) the terrorist training program as Hayes reports once and for all. And provide the documents in pdf form to bloggers who've been following the story. Force the MSM to go to the bloggers for access to the docs - you'll boost milblog readership that way, and you'll be more effective and circumventing the mainstream press getting the word out on future stories.
Splash, out
Jason
It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I'm sure it will, to some extent, feed the Washington Post's delusion that somehow we're on the payroll. And then there's the Daily Kos fantasy that we all get a set of talking points form the Headquarters of the Rovian Borg Collective.
Can the milblogosphere accept exclusive content from the Army and still maintain a reputation for independence and the credibility that goes along with it?
I was hesitant even to post a link to CENTCOM, for fear that it would be seen as an endorsement one way or the other, although it was good to see CENTCOM reaching out for an alternative outlet to the public when they wrote and asked if I'd link to their website.
Here's what I'd like to see:
Right now, Stephen Hayes is relying on eleven sources who won't go on the record and on documents he can't produce.
If the military would like to put milblogs on the map, then the thing to do is get an official to go on the record confirming (or denying) the terrorist training program as Hayes reports once and for all. And provide the documents in pdf form to bloggers who've been following the story. Force the MSM to go to the bloggers for access to the docs - you'll boost milblog readership that way, and you'll be more effective and circumventing the mainstream press getting the word out on future stories.
Splash, out
Jason
Comments:
All MilBloggers who recieve info from DoD and choose to post it have to do is identify that which comes from the PAO versus that which is original thought. It's not that tough. Every paper in the country identifies content that they generate versus that which is provided by the AP, Reuters, or other news services. I don't see a problem
MAJ D.
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MAJ D.
