This is inside bloggy baseball, so if tempests in the world of raging individualistic prose warriors doesn’t interest you, be forewarned.

I belong to an organization called the Media Bloggers Association. You can find the raison d’etre of its founder and board members here. The chairman, Robert Cox, worked with the district court in Washington to gain press credentials for MBA members who were interested in covering the Libby trial. Along the way, he apparently tried to recruit some heavyweight bloggers, including those covering the trial for Firedog Lake and the Huffington Post, onto the MBA roster. I really don’t know much about what happened with that — Cox didn’t say much, I didn’t ask and I’ve only caught bits and pieces of what’s being said by people who think Cox is a demon wanker and, apparently, that anyone who joins the MBA and makes use of the opportunities Cox has manufactured is a bloggy turncoat.

Among the bloggers who either got into the trial via the MBA or piggybacked onto the MBA newsfeed, which was picked up by Associated Press, is Eric Brewer, who covers the White House and whatever else he feels like covering for BTC News. Rory O’Connor from Globalvision is another. Jeralyn Merritt from Talk Left and John Amato of Crooks and Liars fame were two others, and there are more, some whom I know and others whom I don’t, some whom I read and others whom I don’t. Although something ultimately went askew with the arrangement, Amato had initially planned to use his credential days for Murray Waas, the reporter who has broken more Libby/Plame related stories than any other single source.

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