When it comes to what the latest and greatest technology that our military has to offer, I would have to say the official military websites for the individual branches of armed services have the best, most reliable information. The military is part of the government, so all of the information that is accessible to the public on those websites is a direct representation of the government. All of that information is edited and proofread to make sure all the information is correct. I believe though, there may be a slight exaggeration sometimes, but I feel like that is only really done to make a boring articles about the military a little bit more interesting. Nobody likes to read an article about the specifications of a certain new piece of equipment, but a little information regarding what the new piece of equipment might do might draw readers to read the full article and come back to the site later for more information. Being a Marine, I’ve only really gone to marines.mil, where they have a “News” section that will periodically have articles on new equipment and technologies.
I also think that any news articles that are a part of the AP (Associated Press) are very good and reliable news sources. The AP is a very credible because it has a strict set of standards and guidelines to its news articles. They don’t even produce any kind of information from anonymous sources unless:
1. The material is information and not opinion or speculation, and is vital to the news report.
2. The information is not available except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source.
3. The source is reliable, and in a position to have accurate information
2. The information is not available except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source.
3. The source is reliable, and in a position to have accurate information
For more information, the AP issued a statement in 2006 regarding their values and principles; the link to it is http://www.ap.org/newsvalues/index.html
Any information you find on personal blogs or any kind of blog or article where there are no specific standards or guidelines to their writing, that’s when you should be a little wary of what they say. There are really no checks and balances to what a blogger might write. A blogger is free to write what they wants, so they can put their own opinion on things, and even skew the facts so that something that they might like is seen in a negative light. In those situations, it is best to take that information at face value only and research it some more using official military sites or AP news outlets/articles. An example of a good blog site, however, that I found was http://bit.ly/azDD7V. (If you clicked on the link, you find that it’s my own blog, but I do my research, and any information you find here is totally true either from research or personal experience.)
So I searched “military technology,” and the first page was full of websites devoted to military technology, but they were all by private companies, companies that have no obligation to the government to give credible information. I was a little surprised that there was no government sponsored site, but I guess that’s the illusion of control caused by searching and googling. Like my previous blog post, I encourage you to look for, in your own life, how the illusion of control affects your actions.
Well, if you're talking about just specs, the official government web sites are fine. But if you are looking for any kind of critical review of weaponry, don't expect the military to provide it. Take for example the cost of a new weapon, like say the F-22 Raptor. If you ask the Air Force how much it costs, it will give you the so-called "fly-away" cost. That is how much it will cost the build the last one off the assembly line, about $150 million. But the actual cost includes all the money that goes into research and production, and that puts the REAL price tag at more than double, $360 million.
ReplyDeleteLikewise don't expect the government sites to tell you if the system works, or is worth the taxpayers' money. The Army defended the Crusader long-range cannon even after the Pentagon killed. Turns out the big gun was TOO HEAVY to be flown anywhere in a single plane.
Some of the independent sites like: ww.globalsecurity.org/military/systems are quite good and written by experts.
Like anything else, you have to know your source, and cross check it for accuracy.
But if you've been in the military, you should know enough not to take official pronouncements at face value.
Jamie McIntyre
LineofDeparture.com
Good starting points, Sang, on contrasting official sites with blogs (acknowledging that there are also differences in blog quality too). Your details on what to look for provide good strategies. Obviously, your topic also involves governmental information so that adds yet another layer of criteria with which to judge credibility. In other words, as Jamie notes, one also has to be careful when interpreting data provided by the government! Therefore, the real "truth" may require investigation journalism, which obviously goes beyond the scope of what you can do on this blog. The bottom line is you are doing your best to be credible or to seek credible sites, but you are confined by what is only available to you on the web unless you step outside of the digital web environment to obtain confirmation of information found.
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