- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
The Usual Disclaimer:
The side bar attachment of a larger article: Soldier-reporters rewrite the rules http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Ideas/article/245204
Explaining Canadian silence
A Google search turned up only two blogs written by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Why so few?
Numbers: Since 2001, some 15,000 Canadian troops have served in Afghanistan. Over 1 million American troops, by contrast, have rotated through Afghanistan and Iraq.
Security regulations: Canadian Forces’ blogs policy is strict. Military members, the policy states, are to “consult with their chain of command” before posting anything related to the Canadian Forces — “regardless of how innocuous the information may seem.”
Canadian Forces culture: “The American military is far more open than the Canadian military,” says Bob Bergen, who wrote his University of Calgary Ph.D thesis on the Canadian military’s management of the media during the Kosovo war. In 2006, Canadian soldier Matt Austin was ordered to shut down his blog in Afghanistan.
The side bar attachment of a larger article: Soldier-reporters rewrite the rules http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Ideas/article/245204
Explaining Canadian silence
A Google search turned up only two blogs written by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Why so few?
Numbers: Since 2001, some 15,000 Canadian troops have served in Afghanistan. Over 1 million American troops, by contrast, have rotated through Afghanistan and Iraq.
Security regulations: Canadian Forces’ blogs policy is strict. Military members, the policy states, are to “consult with their chain of command” before posting anything related to the Canadian Forces — “regardless of how innocuous the information may seem.”
Canadian Forces culture: “The American military is far more open than the Canadian military,” says Bob Bergen, who wrote his University of Calgary Ph.D thesis on the Canadian military’s management of the media during the Kosovo war. In 2006, Canadian soldier Matt Austin was ordered to shut down his blog in Afghanistan.