Media Bloggers Association

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.

References

1. About Media Bloggers Association 2008-06-22 at the Wayback Machine – MBA Mission
2. Associated Press, "History: Bloggers get in trial" 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. . 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. . 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. . 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.