Media: Blogs are not for propaganda

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced sweeping plans to fight the war on terror in the media with information campaigns that target Internet blogs as well as traditional news outlets.

Rumsfeld outlined his vision for a radical overhaul in the way the US military communicates with the public in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations.

He contrasted the government's plodding approach to news to al-Qaeda's supposed skill in media manipulation.

"And in this war, some of the most critical battles may not be in the mountains of Afghanistan or the streets of Iraq, but in newsrooms -- in places like New York, London, Cairo and elsewhere," he said in his prepared remarks.

Rumsfeld called for more agile military media relations with around-the-clock, seven-day-a-week operations and multi-faceted information campaigns directed at print, radio, television, and the Internet.

Communications planning at all levels of government must be "a central component of every aspect of this struggle," he said.

Read the complete story.

Tags: Propaganda, Donald Rumsfeld.