Pro-Israel media: Bloggers join media war

Some 1,000 new immigrants and foreign-language-speaking Jews volunteer to army of bloggers set up by Absorption Ministry and Foreign Ministry with the stated objective of flooding blogs with pro-Israel opinions

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3663679,00.html

<snip>

"Arye Sharuz-Shalicar, 31, whose parents emigrated from Iran to Germany, is a one-man PR show. He speaks Persian, German, English, French, and Spanish and can also get by in Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Italian.

Sharuz-Shalicar is one of the front-line soldiers in the Ministry of Absorption's new "army of bloggers" that was recently established in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry's public relations department following Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

The Absorption Ministry is recruiting new immigrants and Jews living abroad who have access to a computer and who speak a second language to a volunteer effort to improve public relations for Israel on the internet. The campaign was launched last week.

In the cross hairs are problematic blogs, talkbacks, online social networks, online polls, Youtube videos, and more."

<snip>

"While the Absorption Ministry is tasked with recruitment, the Foreign Ministry will be responsible for directing the volunteers online. Each time the ministry identifies an anti-Israel trend on a foreign-language blog, news site, or other website, it will immediately put out a message to the volunteers to flood the site with pro-Israel opinions."

nt

Israel's much-maligned public relations effort got a big boost from the media in recent weeks. Major news outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN and The Jerusalem Post took notice of its forays into the "new media," including the IDF's YouTube videos of air strikes and humanitarian aid deliveries, and the New York Consulate's innovative "press conference" held entirely on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, where all questions and answers were limited to 140 characters.

In parallel, on-line activists launched private efforts. A group called Help Us Win created a site meant to serve as a hub for on-line activity. Facebook groups with names such as "I Support the Israel Defense Forces In Preventing Terror Attacks From Gaza," and "IDF Internet Soldiers" have attracted thousands of members. Some 10,000 Facebook users "contributed" their status alerts to QassamCount, posting daily updates on the number of rockets hitting the country. HonestReporting led an on-line drive for fair media coverage that drew more than 36,000 supporters and published a guide for on-line activism.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950850098&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

:sarcasm:

its old news to some of us.