ha. Well, I think this is the best place to discuss the Pentagon's policy vis a vis blogs. My own opinion is that it's reasonable for the Pentagon to come down hard on OPSEC/PERSEC violations, but outside of that they should leave the blogs alone. It's a soldier's right to complain, and some of them do it artfully, and not unfunnily. If a blogger's commander shuts him down for boorish reasons, though, then it will reinforce the notion that the Army sucks. Which it sometimes does.

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I think the discussion was by a PR person at the Pentagon. I.E. How to get stories told by the press in the way one would like to have it told.

Exclusive interviews, advance copy's of press releases, off the record "background interviews", free passes to various formal events etc have always been used as a tool to curry favor with MSM journalists.

I think the PR consultant had no idea how to curry favor with bloggers.

Maybe Rumsfeld should introduce a "Mil Bloggers" ribbon, worth an extra point on the promotions board, or appeal to their sense of Patriotic Duty. In any case, the consultant didn't know.

Oh, dear, oh dear... I hate to think that PA offices can be so terribly clueless about blogs and milblogs, that they could have gone through the last three years and still be so frikking clueless. I made a special trip to the PA office of a major Army hospital two years ago, and left my telephone number and an offer to publicise any particular needs for patients. The civilian I talked too seemed terribly interested and keen, but I never heard another word.
But sometimes I wonder, if they aren't being terribly deep, in keeping away from milblogs. Since we are pretty much telling the story that matches up with what they are saying, of our own account... why bother? I am pretty sure that if what the various milblogs are saying went very much counter to what the DOD says officially, the active duty milbloggers would be very much more constrained.

Great comments...especially Sgt Mom!

I wrote about the lack of enthusiasm (based on survey results) of PA professionals toward blogs in my research paper.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to publish my paper...oddly enough, Air University Public Affairs has to approve release first. I am doubtful since I was pretty hard on PA professionals in the paper.

Keep on blogging anyway...someday they will wake up and hopefully it won't be too late.