Blackfive Schools Harpers on Blogging

Blackfive starts with Ken Silverstein's conclusion:

Before these bloggers start to complain that they’ve done nothing wrong, I’d like to ask how they would feel if a group of handpicked, administration-friendly liberal bloggers had done the same thing during the Clinton years. I believe they would have objected vociferously–and I would have agreed with them. No one, on any side, should let themselves be used to spread the administration’s gospel. At least not anyone who can pretend to journalistic standards.

Journalistic standards?

Does Silverstein remember Lanny Davis' "deep-background private placement"? Or the sit down Kerry had for two hours in Al Franken’s living room (see here and here)? I must have missed Harpers' objections on those.

Then there's the secretive Townhouse listserv (nothing at Harpers) and blogger conference calls with Democrats (here, here and here).

[UPDATE: Should we even mention the Journalists who wrote political checks?]

Silverstein's concern for journalistic standards seems thin and self-serving when it comes to bloggers.

I like the DoD bloggers' roundtables with transcripts and videos published online. I like the interaction and certainly feel there's more transparency about who's asking the questions and answering than the anonymous sources that feed "professional" journalists. I certainly like them more, and find them more informative, than the often inane White House press conferences and press briefings.

Full disclosure: I've never participated in a DoD bloggers' roundtable.

I suppose I could, just never asked. The contact information provided on the transcripts would be a good place to start if you're interested in participating in a blogger roundtable:

Department of Defense New Media Team
Phone: 703-325-0103
Email: bloggeroutreach-at-hq.afis.osd.mil

I don't see the conspiracy Silverstein sees, but then I wasn't impressed by the hype-debunking in MoJo's Politics 2.0, either.

Must just be me.

UPDATE: Harpers digs deeper ... the hole, that is, that Ken Silverstein put himself in and gets another response from Grim at Blackfive. This is good:

Danger Room notes that OSD approved their request to add two progressive milbloggers to the roundtables in under half an hour.

See, Ken? How hard was that?

But how hard is it, really, to get other critical voices added to the conference call list?

Well, it took exactly 23 minutes to get Jason "Armchair Generalist" Sigger and Matt "Mountain Runner" Armstrong signed up. And neither is what you would call a fan of this administration.

I am a fan of both Jason Sigger and Matt Armstrong and have linked to them in the past. They will make great additions to the bloggers' roundtables and Ken looks even more foolish than he first did.

UPDATE: More Bloggers' Roundtables

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