What is the “Media Bloggers Association” and why are they talking for us?
Update: I contacted Robert Cox and he says the MBA has about 1000 members, including people like Glenn Reynolds, John Amato, Liza Sabater, James Joyner, Oliver Willis and many others.
During the whole ruckus around the confrontation between the AP and the Drudge Retort, I constantly see references to the Media Bloggers Association. Apparently, this is the group that will spearhead talks with the AP on behalf of bloggers.
But who/what is the ‘Media Bloggers Association’ (MBA)? Who are its members?
The homepage has a nice mission statement, but the only contact information is for a Alex Yuriev (who seems to be the webmaster) and a Robert Cox, who seems speak on behalf of the Media Bloggers Association.
To have a group of bloggers speak on behalf of other blogges might not be a bad idea – but the MBA homepage has no listing of its members and, if you go to the membership page, you come to realize that they won’t even be taking in members until ‘Summer 2008.’
The first references I find to the ‘Media Bloggers Association’ date back to January 2005. Wouldn’t it seem that opening up for membership should have happened in those last three and a half years?
For an association that is meant to represent bloggers, I would hope to see a little bit more openness. Right now, what I see from them makes me feel suspicious about them – especially because the only activity they seem to be planning for now is to provide/sell ‘media liability insurance’ to bloggers.
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