Template:Use MDY dates Template:Use American English Template:Short description {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} A milblog or warblog is a blog devoted mostly or wholly to covering news events concerning an ongoing war. Sometimes the use of the term "warblog" implies that the blog concerned has a pro-war slant.<ref name=cavanaugh>Template:Cite journal</ref> The term "milblog" implies that the author is a member of, or has some connection to the military; the more specific term "soldierblog" is sometimes used for the former.Template:Cn
HistoryEdit
The coinage 'warblog' is attributed to Matt Welch,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=farewell>Template:Cite news</ref> who started his War Blog within days of the September 11 attacks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the fall of 2001, the attacks gave rise to a "war-blogging movement,"<ref name=gallagher /> which favoured political punditry over the often personal and technological orientation that had dominated the blog genre up to that point, achieving much greater public and media recognition than earlier blogs.<ref name=gallagher>Template:Cite news</ref> Most warblogs supported the US-led War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> from a hawkish perspective.<ref name=levy />
Milblogging was popularized by Glenn Reynolds, whose Instapundit was one of the most popular political blogs on the web.<ref name=welch>Template:Cite journal</ref> Some prominent milblogs, such as Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan existed before September 11, but made the war on terror their primary focus afterwards.<ref name=sullivan-future>Template:Cite news</ref> Other notable milblogs included Dynamist by Virginia Postrel, KausFiles by Mickey Kaus, Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall, KenLayne.com by Ken Layne,<ref name=sullivan-future /> and Lileks.com by James Lileks.<ref name=cavanaugh />
The readership of milblogs dramatically increased in March 2003, following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, with readers chiefly attracted by the offer of perspectives absent from most news reports; the pseudonymous Salam Pax, an Iraqi national who was posting first-hand accounts from Baghdad, emerged as a prominent war blogger.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Media organisations that started their own reporters' milblog at this point included the BBC, the Christian Science Monitor,<ref name=national-interest>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.<ref name=levy>Template:Cite news</ref> In the first half of 2003, CNN, The Hartford Courant, and Time were among the media organizations that prohibited staff reporters from covering US-led wars first-hand in their personal blogs for fear both of legal repercussions and of competition from such blogs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Most blogs that gained popularity as "warblogs" expanded their focus to politics and general news, usually from a right-of-center perspective, yet continued to be commonly known as warblogs.<ref name=gallagher /> While milblogs arose in response to the post-September-11 wars and mostly limited their commentary to them, some moved on to related political, social and cultural issues and continued after the end of the wars.
MilblogsEdit
Military blogs emerged with the Iraq War in 2003.<ref name=dao>Template:Cite news</ref> Initially named "warblogs" as well,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> they became popular under the name "milblogging" in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In October 2005, a U.S. soldier named Jean-Paul Borda launched the blog aggregator Milblogging.com.<ref name=dao /><ref name=spector>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=spector /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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<ref name="xbradtc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> when he opened A Soldier's Perspective in December 2004.<ref name="pat">"Julie Howe & CJ Grisham," PatriotWatch.com.</ref> 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.<ref name="MT">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2005, there were fewer than 200 "milblogs" in existence.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2011, Milblogging.com listed more than 3,000 military blogs in 46 countries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The top 5 locations were US, Iraq, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and Germany.Template:Cn During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian milblogs became increasingly popular.<ref name="bbc">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="insider">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Response by governmentsEdit
United StatesEdit
Military blogs became accepted within a few years. Whereas Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was at first believed to be skeptical of military blogs,<ref name=dao /> by 2007 president George W. Bush lauded them as "an important voice for the cause of freedom."<ref name=schwab />
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.<ref name=felberbaum />
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.<ref name=hockenberry/> In April 2005, a four-page document of regulations was issued by Multi-National Corps-Iraq,<ref name=felberbaum /> 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.<ref name=hockenberry>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Some milbloggers took down or altered their blogs for fear of violating the regulation that many of them believed to be too ambiguous.<ref name=felberbaum>Template:Cite news</ref> The regulations were updated in April 2007 but, according to many bloggers in war theatres, failed to resolve their ambiguities.<ref name=schwab>Template:Cite news</ref>
Although the U.S. Department of Defense was initially concerned about milblogs as a potential OPSEC violation,<ref name=alvarez>Template:Cite news</ref> it eventually embraced the concept and attempted to implement official versions of milblogs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Official milblogs did not receive the same reception or popularity of the unofficial milblogs as they were written in the same dull language as other official publications of the Defense Department.Template:Citation needed
RussiaEdit
In Russia, milbloggers (sometimes called voenkory, "war correspondents"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) 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.<ref name="bbc" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, since September 2023, the Russian government arrested a number of high-profile milbloggers, which some have seen as a crackdown on the community.<ref name="insider" />
Famous milbloggersEdit
RussianEdit
- Igor Girkin (Strelkov) Template:Abbr
- Vladlen Tatarsky Template:Abbr
- Mikhail Zvinchuk (Rybar)
- Semyon Pegov (WarGonzo)
- Evgeniy Poddubny
- Alexander Kots
- Andrey Morozov (Murz) Template:Abbr
- Alexander Sladkov