Media Bloggers Association

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The Media Bloggers Association (MBA) is a United States membership-based, non-partisan voluntary association describing its activity as "supporting the development of 'blogging' or 'citizen journalism' as a distinct form of media". [1]

In January 2007, an MBA member received press credentials identical to those of broadcast and print journalists at a federal court, to cover the trial of Lewis Libby, alongside bloggers from more established sites including Firedoglake, the Huffington Post, and Daily Kos. [2] The MBA described this as a significant step forward in its efforts on behalf of its members, [3] despite the fact that the major blogs covering the trial did not rely on the MBA for their credentials. [4]

In June 2008, MBA became involved in a copyright dispute involving Associated Press demand of strict terms for bloggers quoting from their news at the request of Rogers Cadenhead whose Drudge Retort was affected. [5]

Criticism

Many of the MBA's members are unknown bloggers, but some are prominent bloggers such as Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, [6] Oliver Willis, [7] Liza Sabater of Culture Kitchen, [8] and Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine. Still, some bloggers have claimed that the MBA has made sweeping claims to represent bloggers. [9] [10] [11] These critics have claimed that the MBA did not include any major bloggers as members nor represent a significant proportion of the blogging community. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch also claimed, without support, that a business relationship existed between the Associated Press and the MBA. [12]

BoingBoing , one of the blogs critical of the MBA, issued a corrective stating that it was the Associated Press and the New York Times which implied that the MBA was acting on behalf of all bloggers, and not the MBA itself. [13] MBA supporters, [14] Robert Cox himself [15] and others [16] have written at length in response to these criticisms.

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References

  1. ↑ About Media Bloggers Association Archived 2008-06-22 at the Wayback Machine – MBA Mission
  2. ↑ Associated Press, "History: Bloggers get in trial" Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine , The Albuquerque Tribune , January 13, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2007
  3. ↑ Sipress, Alan, "Too Casual To Sit on Press Row? Bloggers' Credentials Boosted With Seats at the Libby Trial", The Washington Post , January 11, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2007 (registration required)
  4. ↑ "For Bloggers, Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder (Correction)", New York Times February 16, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2008
  5. ↑ "How the Media Bloggers Association Got Involved". workbench.cadenhead.org.
  6. ↑ The MBA logo can be seen on the Instapundit website
  7. ↑ "Media Bloggers Association And The AP Story". Oliver Willis' blog. June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on November 18, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  8. ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2008/06/18/something-is-rotten-in-denmark-the-ap-nytimes-and-mba-love-triangle/all-comments/#comment-2379728 [ dead link ]
  9. ↑ Doctorow, Cory. "Who are the "Media Bloggers Association" and what gives them to right to negotiate copyright with the Associated Press?". BoingBoing . Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  10. ↑ Nielsen Hayden, Teresa. "AP to negotiate with sham "Media Bloggers Association"".
  11. ↑ "Media bloggers association". Gawker.com . Archived from the original on 2008-06-19.
  12. ↑ Arrington, Michael (19 June 2008). "Something Is Rotten In Denmark: The A.P., NYTimes and MBA Love Triangle". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2008-06-19.
  13. ↑ Doctorow, Cory. "Media Bloggers Association -- who they are (and they aren't "representing blogs" to the Associated Press)". BoingBoing.
  14. ↑ See notes 2 and 3 supra. See also "EXCLUSIVE : Robert Cox answers some questions about his coming meeting with AP". Culture Kitchen. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  15. ↑ "Back Story on AP - Drudge Retort Issue". Archived from the original on 2008-12-27.
  16. ↑ Teresa (June 18, 2008). "AP to negotiate with sham "Media Bloggers Association"". Making Light blog. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
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