U.S. Government Hires its own team of bloggers.
The Jack Ryan character, created in the Tom Clancy series, would be quite proud. The U.S. Government, our government, has created a Digital Outreach Team. This team of 10 specialists, housed in the State Department, is America’s new professional-diplomatic blogging Corp.
That’s right. You heard me.
They engage blogs around the world in Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages – they also comment on news sites and in discussion groups. Their mission “is to explain U.S. foreign policy and to counter misinformation. The team operates overtly and identifies itself online as being part of the State Department.”
You read it here. They do not operate in secret and they let you know who you are dealing with from the jumpstart. They post wherever misinformation about the U.S. government and its policies have been placed and they counter any bull out there about our great nation.
What it doesn’t explain – for example – how did they retract many of the statements from the Bush Administration that lead to the war? “Ooops….sorry guys….our bad!”
Read their impact statement:
“The DOT posts several dozen comments on 25-30 Internet sites per week. The team creates engaging, informal personas for its online discussions instead of simply making dry policy pronouncements. It contrasts objective facts and analysis with the often emotional, conspiracy laden arguments of U.S. critics in hopes that online readers will take a fresh look at their opinions of the U.S. Beyond short comments and longer op-ed pieces, the DOT posts short, translated videos previously pro¬duced by IIP.”
Look, I am not mocking this initiative. It is the real world. One has to wonder: If we are straight with our intentions from the beginning, why do we have to keep explaining ourselves?
Visit their site at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/116709.pdf
Sun, Aug 30, 2009, by troybody
Blogging