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| CENTCOM Eyes Blogs to Shape Opinion |
| 2006-03-03 |
| In a bid to find new ways to influence public opinion about U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a small media affairs team in Tampa has burrowed into the mushrooming cyber world of blogs and persuaded hundreds of Web sites -- which then link to thousands of other sites -- to post content prepared by military public affairs officials. Since last July, the Florida-based U.S. Central Command's public affairs staff -- in an effort recently praised by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for its innovation -- has been initiating contact with editors of Web sites that cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, offering the same news releases and stories written by military officials that are made available to journalists affiliated with traditional media outlets. In addition, this CENTCOM "electronic media engagement team" encourages these blogs to post a direct link -- along with the command's insignia -- back to CENTCOM's main Web site. To date, more than 300 blogs have posted links to the command's public affairs page, which have directed millions of viewers to CENTCOM's site, command officials say. The blogs with direct links to CENTCOM's site are linked to another 9,300 blogs. This second band of Web sites then link to another 270,000 blogs, providing a potentially exponential reach. "It's an incredible way to communicate with the public," said Lt. Col. Richard McNorton, a CENTCOM spokesman, who oversees a team of two young, enlisted staff members who work full time on the blogs. It has generated new traffic to the CENTCOM Web site, he said, and paved a new path for pushing content to the public that bypasses traditional print and broadcast media outlets. CENTCOM's Web site now gets more visitors through these linked blogs than it does from search engines like Google and Yahoo. Since the outreach effort began, online subscriptions to the command's weekly newsletter have tripled, and the command has observed that items it sends to bloggers ripple across the Internet, directly reaching thousands of viewers, McNorton said. These results have attracted high-level attention. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a speech last month to the Council on Foreign Relations on the need for the government to improve its strategic communications capabilities, highlighted CENTCOM's project as an example of an innovative outreach effort. McNorton, the CENTCOM spokesman, said the command has reached out to blogs edited by people who support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as to those who oppose it. To date, the vast majority of the blogs that regularly post CENTCOM content and provide a direct link are run by what he calls "supporters." "They will pretty much post anything," he said. "The problem with that is the readers are already pro-military. It's almost like we're preaching to the choir." Fewer than 10 blogs written by those who oppose U.S. operations, which CENTCOM calls "determined detractors," have established links, he said. Along with these two categories, the public affairs team targets two other blog categories, McNorton said: Those run by pundits like Bill Bennett, who on occasion has posted CENTCOM content, and sites that are focused on current affairs. Based on its experience with blogs, the command is laying plans to revamp its main Web site to provide more varied content that could be easily exported for use on blogs, he added. CENTCOM officials are looking to take advantage of new multimedia tools to provide video clips and podcasts -- individual sound files -- of speeches by senior command leaders like commander Gen. John Abizaid, he said. All CENTCOM-generated content provided to blogs is in English. A real counter-propaganda campaign, McNorton said, would require engaging in other languages, particularly Arabic and Farsi. "Right now our mission is to provide information to the public," he said. "This is just another method of engaging directly." While military leaders may consider the blog outreach effort pioneering, McNorton noted that U.S. adversaries are demonstrating effective uses of this new medium. "The enemy is so good at using Web sites and blogs to communicate and to recruit. They even have virtual Caliphates. We were so far behind the curve," he said. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 I'm with moose on this. Its a great idea. In Internet jargon, it's called disintermediation, in this case journalists (so called). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-03-03 18:00 |
| #4 Wouldn't I love to have a nickle for every idea I have which eventually becomes reality. Duuh. Now, to screen the reporters at the White House news briefings. All this is necessary to finish the war on terror, or rather the war against radical Islam. We can never win with rubber bullets and Miranda rights. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-03-03 14:04 |
| #3 I disagree. I think that it is a smashingly good idea to have the military communicating as much as possible with the public. In fact, I think that this idea doesn't go far enough. That is, the US military is on every corner of the planet, doing incredible things, really extraordinary and interesting stuff. They also have lots of journalists, writers, and regular personnel who can *communicate* with the rest of us, but seldom do. They have set up some good websites, filled with good photography and a news story or a few, but nowhere near enough, and with too narrow a focus to be very popular, at least compared to blogs. There should be the equivalent of a Pentagon newswire at least as busy as the AP newswire. (See pentagonchannel.mil) (A good example of a very well made, but inaccessible, website.) Stories should be formatted for easy pickup by bloggers and RSS feeds. In face, every major Command should have its own newswire--not aimed at the MSM, but aimed at the Internet. They should also have a parallel "free speech" opinion wire, published by military personnel, but on their own time and which "does not reflect the policy of the US military". For example, personnel in Japan could give extensive commentary on life in Japan, what they see happening in Japan, how they relate to Japan, etc., in an "expat" news forum. With almost no censorship by the military unless it violates security rules. With public *and* private areas. The idea is not for them to talk among themselves, but to have a steady stream of communication with the home front. Imagine a soldier having something like a Myspace site, with password subscription. He can have daily chats with his parents and friends, share digital pictures in an acceptably controlled way (ahem!), and really stay connected to his people. In 90% of the world, US military personnel are working and living in peacetime conditions. The more they stay connected with their family and friends back home, the higher their morale, and the less trouble they get into. Putting it all together, by essentially becoming a news and information service, the military also becomes an opinion maker. In past, they have relied on a spokesman to put out the official word; but in the future, it should be the people themselves that really express the feeling of the military. It doesn't replace the official word, it complements it. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-03 13:43 |
| #2 This could hurt the reputation for independence that blogs have. The link is ok. The rest is not good. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-03-03 12:31 |
| #1 Now send this idea to the White House, clear out the reporters, and go directly to the people through the blog. Allow interviews and personal briefings on a select basis. Who knows, maybe elements of MSM might start bribing and giving good press to the WH just like they did Saddam et al for access. |
| Posted by: Snomoting Ebbomong1497 2006-03-03 12:19 |