The Media Bloggers Association (MBA) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

membership-based, non- partisan

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

describing its activity as "supporting the development of '

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

ging' or '

citizen journalism Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...

' as a distinct form of

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

". In January 2007, an MBA member received press credentials identical to those of broadcast and print

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

s at a federal court, to cover the trial of

Lewis Libby Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby (born August 22, 1950) is an American lawyer and former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney known for his high-profile indictment. From 2001 to 2005, Libby held the offices of Assistant to the Vice Presiden ...

, alongside bloggers from more established sites including Firedoglake, the Huffington Post, and

Daily Kos Daily Kos ( ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party and liberal American politics. The site includes glossaries and other content. It is sometimes considered an example of " netroots" activism. Daily Kos was ...

. The MBA described this as a significant step forward in its efforts on behalf of its members, despite the fact that the major blogs covering the trial did not rely on the MBA for their credentials. In June 2008, MBA became involved in a copyright dispute involving

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

demand of strict terms for bloggers quoting from their news at the request of

Rogers Cadenhead Rogers Cadenhead (born April 13, 1967) is a computer book author and web publisher who served from 2006 to 2008 as chairman of the RSS Advisory Board, a group that publishes the RSS 2.0 specification. He graduated from Lloyd V. Berkner High Schoo ...

whose '' Drudge Retort'' was affected.

Criticism

Many of the MBA's members are unknown bloggers, but some are prominent bloggers such as

Glenn Reynolds Glenn Harlan Reynolds (born August 27, 1960) is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and is known for his American politics blog, '' Instapundit''. Authorship Instapundit blog Reynold ...

Instapundit Instapundit is a blog maintained by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. History and characteristics InstaPundit was launched in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law. After the Sep ...

, Oliver Willis, Liza Sabater of ''Culture Kitchen'', and

Jeff Jarvis Jeff Jarvis (born July 15, 1954) is an American journalist, associate professor, public speaker and former television critic. He advocates the Open Web and argues that there are many social and personal benefits to living a more public life on ...

of ''BuzzMachine''. Still, some bloggers have claimed that the MBA has made sweeping claims to represent bloggers. 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 J. Michael Arrington (born March 13, 1970) is the American founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in America and elsewhere. Magazines such as ...

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $ ...

also claimed, without support, that a business relationship existed between the

and the MBA. ''

BoingBoing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twic ...

'', one of the blogs critical of the MBA, issued a corrective stating that it was the

and the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' which implied that the MBA was acting on behalf of all bloggers, and not the MBA itself. MBA supporters, Robert Cox himself and others have written at length in response to these criticisms.

References

{{reflist Journalism-related professional associations Blogging