“So yes on the evidence this is FUD,” says L'Ombre de l'Olivier, meaning the "fear uncertainty and doubt" that attacks a “large incumbent company . . . when it sees a threat on the radar screen from a start up.” He refers to the WaPo “hit job” on embedded blogger-journalist Bill Roggio — Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage, which Roggio rebutted in Disinformation Operations: Flaws in The Washington Post's article on Information Operations.
L’Ombre calls the WaPo story
fascinating stuff because the production of FUD is a sign of an organization whose product is facing a competitive threat that it can't beat head to head. I would say that Bill and Michael Yon, Michael Totten and, for that matter the Iraqi bloggers at Pajamas Media, are indeed a threat to the MSM [MainStreamMedia] foreign reporters. The reason they are a threat is that they are providing a better quality story. They don't make the elementary mistakes that MSM journos do such as calling a Bradley a tank or failing to note such inconsistencies from their sources. One could go on, but the fact is that Bill & co, as well other Citizen Journalist efforts are making it clear that journalism is not something that has, in the jargon, a moat or high barriers of entry. In fact thanks to the web it has about the lowest barrier of entry of any profession. All that is required is a story and an ability to write and the web then helps that story and writing ability, if either or both are attractive, to get wider coverage.
You don’t need a master’s from Columbia or Medill, you don’t need apprenticeship at City News. No wonder the officially accredited take umbrage.
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