The Torch's Damian Brooks is back in Toronto after spending two weeks in Kandahar with the Canadian forces. Brooks is the first independent blogger to go to Kandahar and he was kind enough to answer some of my questions via email. As you'll see below, he took time off work and paid for some of the trip himself, so if you like his coverage, I suggest throwing him a few bucks to help pay for it (there are details on how to do that at his site).
[links to Damian's posts are at right here, scroll down just a bit:
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/ ]
Archie McLean: How did you start blogging? What is your background?
Damian Brooks: I started blogging on political/current affairs at another blog back in July of 2004, but the longer I wrote there, the more I realized where I was really adding value to the online conversation in the blogosphere was on matters relating to the Canadian Forces. I spent a few years at the Royal Military College back in the early 90's, and still keep in touch with military affairs, and with some of my old friends in the CF. There's really a dearth of informed reporting on the military, as most reporters have neither the interest nor the background to delve into such a detailed, specialized world in any depth. So I started The Torch three years ago as a group blog to deal specifically with the CF. All the contributors except one have some military experience, and the one who doesn't was a foreign service officer for decades and has a son in the CF. It's really a labour of love for us - we all have day-jobs to pay the bills. I yell at the TV news a lot less, now that I have a way to vent when I see mistakes in the mainstream press - as my wife says, it's cheaper than therapy!
AM: Was it your idea or the Candian Forces' for you to go to Kandahar?
DB: I was invited by DND as part of a Regional Media Familiarization visit. I traveled with reporters from Le Journal de Quebec, the Barrie Examiner, and the Kingston Whig-Standard. I had been in discussions with various people in the department for a couple of years about the possibility of such a trip, but it took awhile for the right people to be convinced of the utility of inviting a blogger. It's still "new media" to many people.
AM: Did you pay for the trip on your own dime? How did fundraising go? Are you still accepting donations?
DB: DND hosted the trip, but there was still a couple thousand dollars of expenses that they didn't cover - insurance, inoculations, hotel costs in transit, my Afghan visa, etc. But the flights were military, we stayed in quarters on base, we ate at the mess, and we were issued military PPE [personal protective equipment]. Remember, the idea behind such visits is that the smaller media outlets can't necessarily afford to send their people for a full embed the way Canwest, or CBC, or CTV can. But their perspective is still important in terms of informing the Canadian public from a wide range of sources. So I think it's a worthwhile program. As far as donations are concerned, yes, I'm still fundraising. I took a bit of a financial leap of faith with this trip - I took vacation time from work, and spent my own money up front - but I've been pleasantly reassured by the generosity of our readers north and south of the border.
AM: As a blogger, were you treated any differently than the other media?
DB: I was treated no differently than the rest of the group.
AM: How did your coverage differ from your mainstream media colleague's coverage during the trip?
DB: There were some technical challenges with internet access on the trip that made it difficult to post pieces from Kandahar itself - uploading video, for example. I think my biggest advantage over the other guys on the trip was that I have no editor to answer to, and no deadlines to meet. I write about what I feel is of interest. Unlike a paid journalist, I don't have to pretend to be objective - I'm a fan of the CF and the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who make it up. So my stories were probably more subjective than the other guys' pieces. They're undoubtedly better reporters than I'd ever make, but I knew more about the CF and the Afghanistan mission than they did, so I was really in my element.
AM: Do you know of any other military bloggers who are planning on making the trip?
DB: There are very few bloggers who specialize in military affairs in Canada. In the U.S., there's such a strong milblogging community that a number of milbloggers were actually invited to the White House last year to question President Bush for an hour. In starting The Torch, I was hoping to catalyze the creation of a milblogging community here north of the border, on a smaller scale, of course. But given the differences in the interaction between free speech rights and military law in the U.S. and Canada (CF members are much more restricted in what they can say), there hasn't been much response. I hope other Canadian bloggers do go to Kandahar, because the first-hand experience adds so much depth to the stories a blogger can write, but I don't see any on the immediate horizon.
AM: Do you consider yourself a journalist?
DB: Tough question. In some ways, yes: I gather information, and I inform the public. In some ways, no: blogging is a different medium than mainstream journalism, with different conventions, different parameters, a whole different ethic. Much of what I do when I'm not going to Afghanistan is play whack-a-mole with what I see as flawed mainstream media (MSM) reporting on military affairs. But the separation between reader and writer in the news business is becoming increasingly blurry as barriers to publication come down.
AM: Do you want to go back?
DB: I'd love to go back. But I have a paying job do, and I have a wife and kids who have already been worried and patient enough with this trip. I doubt I'll be headed back anytime soon.
