Report questions authorship of Cincy paper's Iraq blog

2006-04-03

By Robert Niles: A quick note following on the issue of disclaiming the identity of authors online:

Justin Rood of Josh Marshall's TPMMuckraker.com reports that a blog from Iraq on a Cincinnati Enquirer website is being written by a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Enquirer's website notes only that the blogger, Suzanne Fournier, is "stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers."

Rood writes:

I called the paper, but they declined immediate comment on Fournier's writings for them. The editor who oversees the blogs is on vacation, I was told, and besides, the newsroom was busy -- today is the Reds' Opening Day. I emailed Fournier as well, and haven't yet heard back.
So, questions remain: Should a news organization have a military flak writing for it at all? If so, shouldn't she be explicitly identified as a public affairs officer?

Update [4/5/06]: The blog now disclaimers Fournier's ID as "Public Affairs Officer for the Gulf Region Southern District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq."

Fournier writes:

Apparently some people are unhappy that I am communicating with you directly, because they are challenging that I haven't informed you that I am a public affairs officer and my job is to work with the news media and American public.
I've explained my job with the Corps several times in my blogs. If I have misled anyone, I sincerely apologize, that was clearly not my intent. I believe the American taxpayers have a right to know how their tax dollars are being invested in Iraq and I believe my current job puts me in a unique position to provide personal observations since I have traveled the Southern provinces of Iraq for the past eight months.

My personal comment: You are doing your job well, Ms. Fournier, and owe no one an apology. Best wishes for your continued safety in Iraq.

But you ought to be posting on a .mil domain, or Blogger or your own personal website. By giving a press agent of the federal government a privileged position on its website, and not disclaiming that to its readers, the Cincinnati Enquirer is as guilty of violating basic journalism ethics as Armstrong Williams was when he pocketed Department of Education money to shill for the Bush administration, or the many television stations that ran various "Karen Ryan" video segments, produced by a PR agency on the adminstration's behalf.

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Comments:

From Jon Garfunkel on April 3, 2006 at 7:05 PM

As the Staples ad goes, that was easy. Google News brings up a March 19th piece from BlackAnthem, which runs Armed Forces Press Services feeds. It doesn't get much clearer:

Note: Suzanne Fournier is the Public Affairs Officer for the Gulf Region Southern District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq.

In case anybody hasn't gotten the message yet, blogging is public relations. e.g., Journalism = "writing about someone else"; PR = "writing about self".

I suppose I should hurry up and publish by examination of the "milblogs" that I'd promised Robert I was working on.

From Colin Brayton on April 9, 2006 at 1:44 PM

Well, almost. PR is advocacy speech, just like a defense lawyer's arguments to a jury. It must be true, but of course it has no obligation to endorse the prosecutor's side of the story. Journalism does have that additional obligation; a reporter is more like a juror, weighing what various interested parties have to say. Each is a useful, honorable social role--until we start wearing one hat--our Red Sox cap--while playing for the other team--the Yanks.

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