Tonight (Friday August 10, 2007), the BBC show Newsnight will cover this topic:
GAGGING ORDER?
The Ministry of Defence has updated its guidelines which some say effectively "gags" soldiers and others in the armed forces. Tonight we’ll be asking if this is a reasonable restriction or not. The latest guidelines specifically say soldiers cannot blog, email or post photographs or videos which relate to defence matters without specific permission. We know a lot about the problems they’ve faced in Iraq and Afghanistan through the anonymous postings of British and US soldiers – and I imagine the MOD doesn’t like it. The clarification follows the row over the selling of interviews by two of the Royal Navy personnel held captive in Iran, and the report into media communications that followed. But with two more British soldiers killed yesterday and casualties mounting – will there be online mutiny in the ranks?..
See also the U.S. version of the same issue: Pentagon promotes itself on YouTube, but prohibits troops from using it and New limits on blogging by U.S. soldiers.
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