Thanks for your interest in TheFirehouse.biz, the Chrysler Group's media-only blog. We will issue media registration rights to members of the working press only. A member of the working press is one who is paid as an employee, freelancer who regularly contributes, or representative of a known and established media organization (newspaper, magazine, television, radio, etc.) If you would like to resubmit your registration, we would be happy to reconsider it.

Note the list of legit media doesn’t include web sites or blogs, although Garsten said: "Yes, we do consider some blogs legitimate journalism and have granted access to those who regularly cover the auto industry." He also promises that "No one will ever be banished for negative comments or negative stories."

Adrants, B.L. Ochman, Diva Marketing and Chris Houchens were not kind. Adrants called it "completely illogical and non-sensical," and Houchens lumped it in with the notorious fake blogs by Captain Morgan and Juicy Fruit. (On the other hand, Topaz Partners gave Chrysler credit for focusing its first blogging effort on a selected audience.)

Chrysler Communications VP Jason Vines answered on The Firehouse.biz:

The Firehouse.biz is a chance to have an open dialogue with journalists who report on our company and the industry and who literally bombard us with their comments, questions, rants and bad jokes. Unlike our media site, which is a one-way deal, The Firehouse.biz is a two-way street that goes off the page of the press release and allows reporters to vent, probe, attack, while we get a chance to respond on the fly from anywhere in the world and maybe hose down some rumors, or douse the idiotic rants from someone who is uninformed.

In fact, a blog might be the right tool to accomplish those tasks. But surely you’re inviting trouble when you publicize your blog and link to it from your media site, then restrict access so severely.

Vines, whose former jobs include standup comedian and top flack for Ford executive Jac Nasser, also notes on the blog that:

Everything we say in TheFirehouse.biz is on the record, so you’re all free to use anything posted by me or our executives in a story or broadcast. All I ask in return from the media, is please, no X-rated stuff. I get enough of that in my email box … and I’m trying to get my mother to stop. Also … in the spirit of keeping things open and honest, we’d prefer you use your real names when you submit a comment or question. You can use a screen name if you like, but then how would I know to leave you off the list for the holiday party? Finally, we’ll never edit your submissions, but we’ll only post those that stay on the topic and agree with everything I say. That last part’s not true.

So far, only three journalists have left comments on The Firehouse.biz. But there are already seven links to it on Technorati.