William Arkin of the
Washington Post is reporting today that the Pentagon has hired PR firm Hass MS&L to offer:
"exclusive editorial content" to blogs willing to run government propaganda.
Rather than rely on the organic words of soldiers blogging from Iraq, the Army has decided perspective needs a shot in the arm.
[T]he "content" under discussion, an Army public affairs officer tells me, is not the nitty gritty of deployments and living conditions overseas. It is planned to be an official counter to the perceived unwillingness of the mainstream media to report the "good news" from Iraq and the war on terror.
Looks like everyone's fed up with the MSM. And that's with a percentage of the MSM actually being owned by companies that have a big interest in "good news".
But why would soldiers blogging need to add content prepared by a PR firm under contract with the Pentagon?
I believe there is a lot of good news. Anyone who wants to provide this in their blogs does and will. Why would the Pentagon need to inject a corporate polished perspective into what is mostly considered an organic medium of expression?
If there is good news, doesn't it stand to reason that it will be presented in the blogosphere? Why would they need to create it? Will Hass MS&L create actual bloggers? Fictitious entities blogging out polished propaganda?
Blogs, however, are the epitome of independence, perspective, and rebellion. For the Army to blog, its bloggers would need to have an opinion, show some emotion, make a joke, make a case. We all know that the moment some public affairs flunkie strayed from the official happy talk and openly engaged in the information fight, he or she would get nuked.
So, our tax dollars are going to get used so the Army can just add to its propaganda machine, shoveling "content" to like-minded bloggers?
It all smacks of just another losing PR effort by a desperate team who seems to think that the only way it is going to get good press is to buy it or plant it.
Looks that way. Can't say I am really surprised, but quite frankly, I think it's a bogus expenditure of money, regardless of how much or little it is. And what kind of blogger is going to need the full resources of a PR firm?
I'm not sure if there are any examples out there yet of this actual content, and I doubt it will be labeled anyway, but I can think of at least one place to start looking.