Chrysler has a private blog for journalists. According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, the blog, called the Firehouse, usually tracks relevant news. However, more recently it has become an active mouthpiece for the company to criticize the petroleum industry.
The use of a private blog to engage media is an interesting idea but it flies in the face of what blogs are for - to engage in an open dialogue. Where this gets messy is if a blogger wants to sign up. As Toby Bloomberg noted several months ago, we can't. Now that it's being used to openly criticize big oil and this information is in the media, why not open this all up to a broader discussion?
