WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has begun reaching out to the authors of Internet weblogs writing about the military's war on terror.
U.S. Central Command, which runs military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, has created a three-man team to interact with bloggers and their postings.
Central Command 's chief of engagement operations, Army Reserve Maj. Richard J. McNorton, said "The main interest is to drive their readers to our site. Now (online readers) have the opportunity to read positive stories. At least the public can go there and see the whole story. The public wants to hear these good stories."
McNorton said his team contacts bloggers and invites them to visit Central Command's Web site for news releases, data and images.
The American Forces Press Service reported that McNorton commented that a major concern of the team is to correct inaccuracies. The team corresponds with bloggers who are posting inaccurate, incomplete or false information, inviting them along with to all other bloggers to visit the CENTCOM Web site.
The team's motto is "Engage." The team currently interacts with more than 250 bloggers to try to present an accurate picture of the U.S global war on terror and claim to have reached more than 17 million Internet readers.
Analysts estimate that the World Wide Web now hosts more than 21 million Web logs, or "blogs."
