Milblog
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and Russia and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (June 2022) |
A milblog or warblog is a
History
The coinage 'warblog' is attributed to
Milblogging was popularized by
The readership of milblogs dramatically increased in March 2003, following the
Most blogs that gained popularity as "warblogs" expanded their focus to
Milblogs
Military blogs emerged with the Iraq War in 2003.[14] Initially named "warblogs" as well,[15] they became popular under the name "milblogging" in 2004.[16] In October 2005, a U.S. soldier named Jean-Paul Borda launched the blog aggregator Milblogging.com.[14][17] A milblog is primarily focused on the events of the military, written about by those with inside knowledge of the military, whether an active soldier, a veteran of the military, a spouse of a soldier, or a civilian with a special connection to the military.
Milblogs often criticized the media coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, seeking to correct what they saw as biased or negative reporting.[17][18] Thus, Matt Burden of Blackfive.net cites as the rationale of his blog the death in combat of a fellow soldier and good friend of his, who died saving the life of a magazine reporter, yet had his death go unreported by the magazine.[19] One milblogger chose to offer his site "as an educational service to the American People who wish to know the true story of Iraq and Afghanistan."[20] Other milblogs cite similar intentions to report the news that they did not feel the mainstream media was reporting.
C.J. Grisham was among the first active duty soldiers to become a milblogger[21] when he opened A Soldier's Perspective in December 2004.[22] Within five years, ASP was receiving an average of 1,500 visitors per day (nearly 1 million in total) from over 120 countries and was ranked the second most popular site on Milblogging.com.[23]
In 2005, there were fewer than 200 "milblogs" in existence.
Response by governments
United States
Military blogs became accepted within a few years. Whereas Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was at first believed to be skeptical of military blogs,[14] by 2007 president George W. Bush lauded them as "an important voice for the cause of freedom."[28]
Official oversight of websites maintained by military personnel deployed to the Middle East began in 2002. The oversight mission consisted of active-duty soldiers and contractors, as well as Guard and Reserve members from Maryland, Texas and Washington state. Its remit was expanded in August 2005.[29]
In Iraq, commanding officers shut down a blog that reported on the medical response to a suicide bombing that had taken place in late 2004 in Mosul. The Army Web Risk Assessment Cell was created to monitor compliance with military regulations.[30] In April 2005, a four-page document of regulations was issued by Multi-National Corps-Iraq,[29] directing all military bloggers in Iraq to register with their units, and commanders to conduct quarterly reviews to make sure bloggers were not disclosing casualty numbers or violating operational security or privacy rules.[30] Some milbloggers took down or altered their blogs for fear of violating the regulation that many of them believed to be too ambiguous.[29] The regulations were updated in April 2007 but, according to many bloggers in war theatres, failed to resolve their ambiguities.[28]
Although the
Russia
In Russia, milbloggers (sometimes called voenkory, "war correspondents"[33]) have gained prominence during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing a greater level of information about the war than is available from state media. Blogs range from those affiliated with state media, which often provided information more in-line with that of government positions, to independent and Wagner Group-affiliated blogs which are more critical of the Russian military establishment's performance in Ukraine. These blogs are notable for their ultranationalist and pro-war views.[26] The Institute for the Study of War attributed their popularity to the Russian government's failure to establish an effective social media presence as well as its failure in preparing the Russian public for a drawn-out war. The Russian government has protected them from calls for censorship and has selectively granted positions to nationalist and pro-war milbloggers due to their importance in the ultranationalist constituency which Vladimir Putin's presidency has become increasingly reliant upon. Putin himself has met with prominent milbloggers aligned with state-media to discuss military matters.[34] However, since September 2023 the Russian government arrested a number of high-profile milbloggers, which some have seen as a crackdown on the community.[27]
Famous milbloggers
Russian
- Igor Girkin (Strelkov) #
- Vladlen Tatarsky †
- Mikhail Zvinchuk (Rybar)
- Semyon Pegov (WarGonzo)
- Evgeniy Poddubny
- Alexander Kots
- Andrey Morozov(Murz) †
- Alexander Sladkov
Ukrainian
- Oleksiy Arestovych
- Dmitry Gordon
- Anatoly Shariy
- Anton Gerashchenko
- Michail Onufrienko
Other
See also
- List of blogging terms
References
- ^ a b Cavanaugh, Tim (April 2, 2002). "Let Slip the Blogs of War". USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
- ^ Reynolds, Glenn (February 20, 2003). "On the warpath". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 6, 2003. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
- ^ Welch, Matt (April 1, 2006). "Farewell to Warblogging". Reason. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- ^ Welch, Matt (September 17, 2001). "Welcome to war". War Blog. Archived from the original on September 20, 2001. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
- ^ a b c Gallagher, David F. (June 10, 2002). "A Rift Among Bloggers". New York Times. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016.
- ISBN 978-1-59028-040-9.
- ^ a b Levy, Steven (March 28, 2003). "Bloggers' Delight". Newsweek. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
- ISSN 0010-194X. Archived from the originalon December 6, 2003. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
- ^ Munksgaard, Daniel (2010). "Warblog without end: Online anti-Islamic discourses as persuadables". Iowa City: University of Iowa: 38.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ a b Sullivan, Andrew (February 24, 2002). "A Blogger Manifesto: Why Online Weblogs Are One Future for Journalism". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on April 6, 2002.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
- JSTOR 42897526.
- ^ Bowman, Shayne; Willis, Chris (2003). We Media (PDF). Reston, VA: The Media Center at the American Press institute. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ Thompson, Garry (2003). "Weblogs, warblogs, the public sphere, and bubbles". Transformations: Journal of Media & Culture. 2003 (7). Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Hewitt, Hugh (March 11, 2004). "Rise of the Milblogs". Weekly Standard. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ a b Spector, Mike (July 26, 2006). "Cry Bias, and Let Slip the Blogs of War". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 5, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
- ^ Bennett, Daniel (May 11, 2009). "The evolution of military blogging in the mediasphere". Frontline Club. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
- ^ Burden, Matt (May 26, 2004). "Major Mathew Schram's Memorial Day". Blackfive.
- ^ "About Me". War on Terror News.
- ^ "Noise and Light Discipline". xbradtc.com. December 16, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
- ^ "Julie Howe & CJ Grisham," PatriotWatch.com.
- Military Times. Archived from the originalon April 22, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
- ^ Curt (September 24, 2010). "Find a successful case study and…". The Computer Whisperer. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
- ^ "Search Milblogging.com's Database". Milblogging.com. July 14, 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011.
- ^ a b "Ukraine war: Who are Russia's war bloggers and why are they popular?". BBC News. April 4, 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ a b Peck, Michael (September 15, 2023). "Recent arrests suggest Putin is quietly trying to rein in some of his most effective promoters of the war in Ukraine". Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
- ^ ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
- ^ a b c Felberbaum, Michael (October 29, 2006). "Army Monitors Soldiers' Blogs, Web Sites". Washington Post.
- ^ a b Hockenberry, John (August 2005). "The Blogs of War". Wired. Vol. 13, no. 8. Archived from the original on August 13, 2005. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- ^ Alvarez, Steve (March 2, 2006). "CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'". Defense.gov. Archived from the original on June 8, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ Bennett, Daniel (July 7, 2010). "Tracing the first official U.S. military blogs". Frontline Club. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ Kottasová, Ivana (April 4, 2023). "Putin's digital footsoldiers: How bloggers became a key cog in Russia's war machine". CNN. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
- ^ "Institute for the Study of War". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved June 14, 2023.