Posted By Bouhammer on October 30, 2008

This week while I was off for a few days taking my wife on a much needed vacation and birthday celebration, the milblog community and even the mainstream media community has been all abuzz about the Nick Meo fiasco that has erupted.

My initial  post is at http://bouhammer.com/wordpress/?p=1792

My 2nd post on the subject is at http://bouhammer.com/wordpress/?p=1841

I have been following the email traffic back and forth between myself and other milbloggers, journalists, etc. Many milblogs have picked up the story since blackfive.net and I first broke the story and put out in the blogosphere. I have posted some of those links at the bottom of this blog entry as a central place to see the latest entries written by both bloggers and journalists worldwide. The bottom line is that what has happened has been extraordinary. For probably one of the first times in milblogs (that I know of), the new media of blogging has shaken up the mainstream media via a grass-roots effort of blog readers mobilizing to voice their opinions.

Nick Meo’s employer has been trying to do damage control, other media outlets are sniffing around and the amount of hits (website traffic) on this site, along with others have shot through the roof as a result of this story. I am not sure if that means blogs, and more importantly, milblogs are becoming more mainstream or just more influential. It is almost like when underground punk bands who develop popularity and a following through word of mouth all of a sudden get picked up by a major record label.

I am pleased to highlight one great example of the importance of milblogs. In emails back and forth with the TF Phoenix ARSIC-South PAO who was the person that originally contacted me about Nick Meo’s story, we talked about his comments in his follow-up article where he was crying about the terrible things the milblogs were writing about him and his story. One thing Mr. Meo mentioned was that the US military did not refute his story, making it almost sound like they approved of it. Well the US Army does not always move fast when it does not include things like killing the enemy and saving our soldier’s lives. So while they were working up their response, they also sent out the email to myself and Blackfive. The response by the milblog community and its readership was so great, so swift, and had such an impact that the Army now feels like there is not much more they can add to the situation. To quote the PAO in an email from her this morning…

“The letter from ‘higher’ (Army Command)….due to the fact that you  guys were going over and beyond what the ‘military letter’ (official military rebuttal) would have stated. Your (all milblogs that have covered this story) words, capabilities, and pummeling of Meo, did more than the military would have been able to
accomplish. So, they felt it would be a bit redundant and less powerful than what you guys were already doing- so a huge THANK YOU from the military community.”

So as you can see, not only have milblogs and their readers impacted a major news outlet like the Telegraph and caused other MSM outlets to take notice, it has also shaped the way that the US Army was going to officially respond. This is a huge step forward and a prime example of what can happen when milbloggers and milblog supporters bond together from the normal themes of their blogs and focus their efforts on one particular topic.

Some of the recent news articles and other blog postings about the Nick Meo saga are:

NewsBlaze Op-ed response to Nick Meo story,   http://newsblaze.com/story/20081028122958ros1.nb/topstory.html

Susan Katz Keating Blog, http://susankatzkeating.blogspot.com/2008/10/formerly-embedded-british-journalist.html

Assoluta Tranquillita Blog, http://assolutatranquillita.blogspot.com/2008/10/media-matters-2-memo-to-nick-meo.html

My fellow Afghan Vet milblogger over at Bill and Bob’s Excellent Afghan Adventure, http://billandbobsadventure.blogspot.com/2008/10/closing-ranks-or-when-bloggers-attack.html

GreyHawk’s observations, http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/031009.html

I thank you again for reading…Bouhammer out…

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