U.S. Senators have written a letter to the Secretary of Defense to advise that the American people have benefited greatly from the direct correspondence with the military represented by the Milblogs, and urged them not to do anything to limit them.
From the Front:
Moderator: Matt of BlackFive (www.blackfive.net)
Panelists: Bill Ardolino (www.indcjournal.com), Bill Roggio (www.billroggio.com), Jim (www.sgthook.com), Sean (www.docinthebox.blogspot.com)
Matt of BlackFive read a letter of thanks from General Petraeus! If that doesn't tell you how much notice Milblogs are getting now. A SFC sent word that Al Qaeda is on the run and has limited movement, and had really nice words of praise for all of us at Soldiers' Angels.
Matt introduced the panelists, and then asked an interesting question: What are the troops bringing with them when deployed?
The technology travelling with them is pretty impressive - laptops, iPods, DVD players. There are internet cafes on bases, and in parts of Iraq now, you can pay for internet service in your hooch!
We then were treated to a discussion of the new OPSEC regs.
Sean of Doc-in-the-Box said "Well, it's an Army regulation; I'm not really too worry about it." (he's a Navy Corpsman). He said he felt that since monitoring all blog posts would just be far too much, he thinks it's likely to be something that is only enforced if someone crosses the line.
There was a little discussion of MSM coverage of the war. Bill Roggio noted that significant developments in Al Anbar have been mischaracterized as negatives, and the MSM is ignoring a real counterinsurgency success there.
It was noted that there is a complete absence of attention on Afghanistan. Although the reporters are there, Jim noted, you never see the stories they've done.
Bill A. talked about a European freelance journalist he knew who had gone to all major European outlets to try and get the ability to do first hand reporting, but had gotten no takers, because they didn't want to be responsibilty for him getting killed.
Bill Roggio said that, "nothing happens quite a lot in Iraq," and no one is going to write about that. The violence is what sells.
Bill A. noted that during the downtime, there are a lot of human interest stories that can be covered, but aren't.
Matt of Blackfive spoke about an AP reporter who told him that he submitted a story every single day - and the only ones that got picked up were the ones where someone got killed.
Matt asked Bill and Bill to talk about embedding, and about the possibility of expanding embedding.
Bill A. said the process of getting approved took months of paperwork and red tape. He said it's not that they're trying to keep people from embedding, but they're not making it easy, either.
There seems to be consensus that the USMC has more of an understanding of public affairs than the other branches. Bill Roggio said that under the new staff, the process seems to be going a little more smoothly.
That's enough for now; oh, and this morning's opening remarks by President Bush are here, at Gateway Pundit.
Labels: Milblog Conference 2007
(right click image, then "Save as")
Stumble It!
