Here’s a blog that raised my eyebrows a bit.
Over at the Cincinnati Enquirer’s online site, Cincinnati.com, there’s a blog about Iraq written by military staffer whose job is to generate positive news about U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq.
Grandma in Iraq is the title of the blog, written by Suzanne M. Fournier, a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The posts are largely upbeat. “Everytime [sic] an Iraqi contractor bids on a reconstruction project… it is a sign that democracy is winning here,” reads one. “I am confident we’ll have another banner year of success for the benefit of the people of Iraq and democracy in the Middle East,” another says.
Cincinnati.com identifies “Grandma” as “Suzanne Fournier of Alexandria, grandmother of 15, [who] posts from Iraq, where she is stationed with the U.S. Army Corp. [sic] of Engineers.” It makes no mention she’s a flack.
In her posts Fournier doesn’t conceal her day job, but she doesn’t trumpet it, either. In reading her 50 or so posts currently online, we could find only one where she explicitly states, “I do public affairs[.]” In a handful of other posts, she makes passing references such as, “I just put out a press release.”
I called the paper, but they declined immediate comment on Fournier’s writings for them. The editor who oversees the blogs is on vacation, I was told, and besides, the newsroom was busy — today is the Reds’ Opening Day. I emailed Fournier as well, and haven’t yet heard back.
So, questions remain: Should a news organization have a military flak writing for it at all? If so, shouldn’t she be explicitly identified as a public affairs officer?
Ed. note: Thanks to reader CD for the tip.