The Blogging Journalist

The Defense Department Debate on Military Blogging

"The Department of Defense (DoD) is split into two basic camps on military blogging." contends Michael Goldfarb, editor of Worldwide Standard.com , a Weekly Standard blog. According to Goldfarb:

One camp believes that in-theater blogging is too serious of an OPSEC [operation security] risk, arguing that our enemies and their sympathizers can gain access to troop movements, deployment schedules, base defenses, etc., by reading military blogs. The reaction is to try and keep their finger in the information dike by banning sites like YouTube, Myspace, and Blogspot, separating soldiers from the New Media's common tools.

The other camp, of which General [William] Caldwell and General [David] Petraeus are members, views blogs as a tool that can be used to the military's advantage. In an age where the United States finds itself engaged in a variety of smaller wars and counterinsurgencies, conflicts that will be won or lost in the halls of Congress instead of on the battlefield, Caldwell views the intensely personal war-stories flooding the Internet as critical to the war effort, helping to sustain the American public's stomach for a protracted fight.

Goldfarb said, "They're also critical in fighting our media saavy enemy, who use contacts in global news outlets to widely and rapidly communicate their message of jihad to the world.

If you want to read more, see "The Internal War Over Blogs."

Technorati Tags: General William Caldwell,General David Petraeus,Military Blogs,The Weekly Standard,The Blogging Journalist

St. Petersburg Times: 'Blogs Are CentCom's New Target

CentCom revisited. "U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa [Florida] is taking notice" of what bloggers are saying about the military's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, St. Petersburg (Florida) Times staff writer William R. Levesque reported February 12, 2007.

Levesque noted that, "Since 2005, CentCom officials have jumped into the blogging fray, facing the realities of a new electronic age in hopes of combating misinformation on the Web, or just getting its own news out."

Adds Levesque: "A three-person team monitors blogs - Internet journals with commentary from ordinary citizens and, often, links to news articles - that concentrate on CentCom's area of responsibility, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan."

To read more, please see "Blogs are CentCom's new target." 

David Ignatius: Soldiers' Blogs Reflect Anger At Media

The Washington Post's David Ignatius writes in a column I read in the December 26, 2006, edition of Tallahassee.com:

If you read soldiers' blogs, and I've looked at several dozen over the past few days, you see a recurring anger that the media aren't telling their story. So I'll let a few of the military bloggers speak for themselves. If you want to share in the conversation, a good place to start is milblogging.com, which collects blogs from soldiers deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.

To read Ignatius' entire column, please see "Blogs from Iraq: Troops describe loss of innocence.

Military officials Concerned About Soldiers' Blogging

Corporal Guillermo E. Vargas, writing in in the blog U.S. Marines in Japan, said in a December7, 2006, post that,"...  military officials are becoming increasingly concerned with the security risks blog sites are posing as countless service members are empowered with an outlet that can easily blur the line between harmless creativity and potentially harmful sensitive information."

To read why officials are worried, see "Military officials urge careful use of blogging sites."

The D-Ring: 'Where The Military And New Media Collide'

Steve Field, "a former Army civilian and spokesman at the Pentagon," has a rather interesting blog called "The D-Ring: Where the military and new media collide." I've bookmarked.

By the way, I came across the blog while reading freelance journalist Mark Glaser's November 15, 2006, post at MediaShift headlined "Pentagon PR Blogger Explains Military’s New Media Challenge. It's an interview with Field.

Infoshop News: Army To Clamp Down On Some Army Websites

"Bloggers: "Big Brother is not watching you, but 10 members of a Virginia National Guard unit might be," according to the Army," Infoshop News reported October 13, 2006.

Infoshop News said, "The Manassas-based Guardsmen are on a one-year assignment to clamp down on both "official and unofficial Army Web sites for operational security violations."

To read more, see "Army "Big Brother" Unit Targets Bloggers."

Links To U.S. Military Blogs Around The World

If you are interested in military blogs, see Milblogging.com's "Top 100 Favorite Milblogs." Also see GlobalSecurity.org's list of military blogs.

First Miliblog Event Draws More than 150 Bloggers, Readers

Leo Shane III, a reporter with the Mideast edition of Stars and Stripes, reports in the April 24, 2006 edition that, "Overregulation of military weblogs by the defense officials will not only demoralize troops but also silence many of the military’s strongest advocates, a panel of leading bloggers said Saturday," April 22, 2006, at the "first military blogger conference."

Stars and Stripes said, "More than 150 bloggers and blog readers attended the event, and dozens more participated in the activities through a collection of virtual conference links."

The publication quoted "Scott Koenig, better known as the blogger L.T. Smash [Link added], as saying:

There’s a growing gap between people who have no contact with the military and people who have contact every day. And one thing we can do (to counter that) is tell our story, and tell it effectively, and tell it intelligently.

"But the blogging experts also warned that servicemembers and military families who use weblogs must be vigilant in what they post, because carelessness could easily enrage military leaders and possibly risk lives," Stars and Stripes reported.

For more, please see "Military bloggers speak out against more restrictions."

General John Abizaid on Military Bloggers

On March 16, 2006, JJ Sutherland over at Mixed Signals, an NPR blog, posted a statement by General John Abizaid on military bloggers. It was sent to him by Vicky O'Hara, NPR's Pentagon correspondent. Read it here.

MilBlog Conference Set for April 22, 2006

BuzzMachine notes that the 2006 Milblog Conference is scheduled for Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2006.

According to a February 5, 2006 post over at the MilBlog conference site, the confab "is designed to bring milbloggers together for one full day of interesting discussion on topics associated with milblogging."

"We will explore the history of milblogs, as well as what the future may hold for this medium which the military community is using to tell their stories," the post says.

Military.com Adds Milblogging.com to its Camp

Milblogging.com has one of the best lineups of military blogs I've come across in my effort to keep you informed on blogging.

Speaking of milblogging, on January 18, 2006, Business Wire said, "Military.com, the largest military and veteran membership organization, has announced the addition of Milblogging.com (www.Milblogging.com), the leading military-related blog portal, to its family of online military sites." Here's the press release.

BBC News: 'Blogs Offer Taste of War in Iraq

"The war in Vietnam is often referred to as the first war on television, and the wars in Afghanistan and now in Iraq will be known as the first wars to be blogged," contends the BBC's Kevin Anderson. See "Blogs offer taste of war in Iraq."

Pentagon Calls Pro-U.S. Websites it Finances Legal

Mark Mazzetti of the Los Angeles Times reported December 29, 2005 that, "U.S. military websites that pay journalists to write articles and commentary supporting military activities in Europe and Africa do not violate U.S. law or Pentagon policies, a review by the Pentagon's chief investigator has concluded."

"But," he added, "a senior Defense Department official said this week that the websites could still be shut down to avoid the appearance of impropriety."

That sounds like a good idea to me. See "Pentagon Calls Its Pro-U.S. Websites Legal."

SMH: 'US Military Finds Soldiers' Blogs Too Close For Comfort'

On December 28, 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article with the headline "US military finds soldiers' blogs too close for comfort." The article was originally published in the Daily Telegraph of London.