Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War

Washington [Com] Post ^ | 26 December 2005 | Jonathan Finer and Doug Struck

[RKV]

BAGHDAD -- Retired soldier Bill Roggio was a computer technician living in New Jersey less than two months ago when a Marine officer half a world away made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Frustrated by the coverage they were receiving from the news media, the Marines invited Roggio, 35, who writes a popular Web log about the military called "The Fourth Rail" ( http://www.billroggio.com ), to come cover the war from the front lines. He raised more than $30,000 from his online readers to pay for airfare, technical equipment and body armor. A few weeks later, he was posting dispatches from a remote outpost in western Anbar province, a hotbed of Iraq's insurgency. "I was disenchanted with the reporting on the war in Iraq and the greater war on terror and felt there was much to the conflict that was missed," Roggio, who is currently stationed with Marines along the Syrian border, wrote in an e-mail response to written questions. "What is often seen as an attempt at balanced reporting results in underreporting of the military's success and strategy and an overemphasis on the strategically minor success of the jihadists or insurgents." Roggio's arrival in Iraq comes amid what military commanders and analysts say is an increasingly aggressive battle for control over information about the conflict.

[RKV]

Roggio and Yon get their 15 minutes in the MSM. I am not counting on the lamestream press being smart enough to get these guys on contract. Then I don't count on the exempt media to survive in their current state either.

[SkyPilot]

Someone fights back against the relentless negative coverage by the MSM, and they go nuts.

Must have struck a nerve.

"It is always the hurt hog that squeals.

[stocksthatgoup]

bttt

[RKV]

Expect the MSM to focus on who is "paying" the bloggers for their opinions. Never mind that Roggio and Yon (and other "Milbloggers") are typically ex-military types who 1) know quite a bit about what is really going on from their contacts who are active 2) don't sit around the hotel bar when they get in country, rather they armor up and go on patrol to see for themselves and 3) actually like their fellow American soldiers and don't see them as "the enemy" as do many of the 60s generation who now infest the editorial boards of too many MSM outlets.

[Semper Paratus]

You don't need to go to 'J' school to be a journalist. Just a desire to find out the truth and some basic writing skills will cut it.

[RKV]

But, but, but ... what will a journalist write if they don't get the "talking points?" Heh. Seriously though, you make a good point. I seem to recall that Winston Churchill was a journalist during the Boer War in South Africa before he got into politics. We need more journalists like that.

[Beckwith]

Now = New?????

[polymuser]

Will be checking out his blog, for sure.

Wonder if some real journalists could infiltrate MSM offices and blog out some of those truths.

[RKV]

Yon and Roggio are very smart and very well informed. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do. Not sure you could "embed" a conservative in an MSM newsroom - the editors would make sure the party line was held to.

[coldoc]

Why would either one WANT to be on the MSM payroll? This would just put the "evil editors" in a position of authority over them.

I think their present sitation is much more desirable. They are independent, have a reputation for integrity, have a growing audience, and are quite respectable. The MSM will try to use their "respectability" by using their artices to regain their own... Not a bad position to be in!

[RKV]

Well, a paycheck is a paycheck. Guys like Roggio show what the issue looks like - it costs bucks to go to Iraq (or elsewhere). You are right that the MSM will use the bloggers to recover (some) of their lost credibility. Much like the occasional house conservative gets editorial space in the lamestream press. 90% of the total coverage is hard left, but they will trot out their tame RINO from time to time.

[polymuser]

A post from the site from a journalist in Iraq that got to see the reality there and questioned herself:

"But then I realize it’s not a conflict of interest. If I am truly unbiased, then I need to get used to this one simple fact; that the untold story, might in fact, be a positive one. It takes a minute to wrap my mind around it, as a news junkie that became a news writer. The great, career-making, breaking news stories usually don’t have happy endings; they usually revolve around disturbing news, deceit and downfall. Nasty political doings. Gruesome crimes and murders. Revealing secrets.

But I’ve come upon something that is none of those. Not this aspect of it. There are politics to this war and controversies and investigations. But there is another side."

Wow, a journalist considering the red pill.

[pointsal]

Went and read the link <> seems to be well written.

Thanks.

[pointsal]

Went and read the link at www.billroggio.com seems to be well written.

Thanks.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Expect the MSM to focus on who is "paying" the bloggers for their opinions.

"Objective" journalism is hypocritical about the "purity" of its money. Its money comes from circulation, advertising, and investment:

• Sales and advertising revenue derive not from telling the whole truth but from attracting attention - same as a carnival barker.

• investment income comes from whatever other business the investor derived income from, for which in principle there is no assurance that the money is in any way "pure."

So there is no justification for laws which advantage journalism in spending money which influences politics, over agriculture spending money which influences politics, or manufacturing or gambling spending money which influences politics.

[RKV]

Point well made. Just watch the MSM shill Hollywood movies for an easy example. Given the interownership of media and entertainment (e.g. TimeWarner) it is all too easy to do. Also, given industry consolidation, the few remaining players act more and more like an oligopoly. Watch how the WaPo will sometimes break ranks with the NYT, and sometimes not (see the Rathergate episode for an example, Swift Boat Vets to a lesser extent).

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

the WaPo will sometimes break ranks with the NYT, and sometimes not (see the Rathergate episode for an example, Swift Boat Vets to a lesser extent).

Can you link where either propaganda organ promoted either the Buckhead or SBVT?

[RKV]

I wouldn't say "promoted" - I do seem to recall (please don't ask for a specific cite) that the WaPo ultimately picked up the SBV story, even if only for a bit.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I do seem to recall (please don't ask for a specific cite) that the WaPo ultimately picked up the SBV story, even if only for a bit.

I'm sensitive about that issue, because IMHO 60 Minutes' Forgerygate is a classic picture of the collusive tendentiousness of journalism which calls itself "objective":

1. Anyone with any claim to intelligence can study the facts and understand that the TANG "memos" CBS touted were crude forgeries.

2. Anyone who researches the matter can know that no major "objective" journalism outlet adopted an actually objective stance, which would have required them to state categorically that the TANG story was a baseless fraud, and broadcasting it marked CBS as not being truly objective.

3. Therefore not only CBS but all of "objective" journalism is a tendentious fraud.

Far from being nonpartisan, the CBS TANG story slavishly followed the Kerry "War Hero Runs Against Cowardly Effete Draft Dodger" storyline. And was dismissive of the Bush-preferred "Sitting President Fighting War Opposed by Critic of American Military and Intelligence Budget" storyline.

It strikes me as a particularly open-and-shut case. I am therefore sensitive to any suggestion that in fact any "objective" journalism actually was objective in reporting on the 60 Minutes TANG story.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Belmont Club has some great observations:

Who is a journalist?