Citizen Journalists Answering Questions About Military Journalists

Last week I contacted Mark Glaser who blogs for PBS. He hosts, 'MediaShift, Your Guide to The Digital Media Revolution.' I asked him this question:

I’m working on a commentary on citizen journalism in the Air Force as a means to leverage the non-kinetic weapon of journalism to win the information war. The problem I’m facing is unlike Yahoo, Reuters, or any other news organization, we can’t simply change our business model. The reason…we’re ultimately held responsible at every level. The base commander, SECDEF,President, the taxpayer etc… I know there is another term being used today called networked journalism, which is probably the term I should be using since, unlike in citizen journalism, before you publish your media, (print, video, still image)a public affairs official will need to clear it. I started off with this as my catalyst: The AF’s #1 weakness is telling a timely story, it’s #1 strength is telling an accurate story. Citizen journalism’s #1 strength is telling a timely story. (My opinion, not the Air Forces) Given these restraints, how do you think the Air Force could best leverage all of these voices to tell one message?

His answer:
Wow, Chris. This is a really fascinating conundrum, and an interesting one.

Well, he's taken the question one step further. After several e-mails, Mark has posted the question on MediaShift.

How should the military respond to citizen journalism in the field of combat?