September 21, 2005:
With the retirement of Arthur Chrenkoff from blogging, his
regular "Good News" reports concerning Afghanistan and Iraq might be missed.
However, this gap is being filled by a new site, GoodNewsFromTheFront.com, which
will carry on Chrenkoff's work. This site is being supported by a variety of
blogs (including Iraq the Model) and the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies.
The site is covering the "good news" in both Iraq and
Afghanistan, as a means of partially countering the "police blotter" style of
reporting that usually dominates coverage of the war in both countries. This is
comprehensive, covering the society, the economy, reconstruction, humanitarian
aid, security, and the coalition forces. This has included, among other
projects, a radio network in Afghanistan, updates on opinion polls from Iraq,
and the start of construction work for eight new bridges in Iraq. This is a site
that will receive some wide play on the internet, often from people who will
want to know the rest of the story - a side of the story that is obscured. Other
bloggers, like Michael Yon, have been providing coverage not seen in the media.
Some of the military commands are also reaching out to the blogosphere as well,
bypassing the legacy media.
The silent majority these days not only is
willing to speak out, it is gaining the means to do so via talk radio and the
internet. And the vocal minority - particularly the legacy media - is finding
out that their volume is not drowning out things that were ignored in past wars.
This lack of reticence by the supporters of the war is having an effect. The
anti-war protests have often been greeted by small numbers of
counter-protestors. There is a new media battlefield, one whose dimensions and
rules are still unknown. - Harold C. Hutchison
([email protected])
Chrenkoff's blog:
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/
Goodnewsfromthefront.com: http://goodnewsfromthefront.com/
Michael Yon's
blog: http://www.michaelyon.blogspot.com/