Military Media Relationships

Over the course of the next six months, the Strategic Studies Institute will examine the impact of the media's technological advances on strategic and operational level planning and policymaking, first in an overseas theater, and subsequently on decisions made at the national level. The first of these two studies recognizes the complexity of executing military operations under the scrutiny of a very responsive, high technology world news media. Given the volatile, unstable, and ambiguous environment in which armed forces can find themselves, the actions of field forces have a greater chance than ever before of affecting subsequent strategic decisions made at higher levels. The pressure on field commanders to "get it right the first time" is demonstrably greater than ever. The author intends that these thoughts provide commanders with an understanding of the high technology and competitive news media environment they can expect to experience and offers specific suggestions for successfully communicating with reporters.

The image of public relations, and particularly government public relations, is often linked to thoughts of press agentry and propaganda (Brown, 1976; Cutlip, 1995; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000; Lesly, 1988), and journalists seem to agree with this association (Ryan & Martinson, 1985; Stegall & Sanders, 1986). As a result, a "media-public relations struggle' (Cutlip, 1976, p. 6) ensues, despite the reliance each has upon the other to do their jobs effectively (Bishop, 1988; Brown, 1976; Cutlip, 1976; Gieber & Johnson, 1961; Shea & Gulick, 1997; Sietel, 1992). This mutually-dependent relationship is especially important to the Department of Defense (Baroody, 1999, Braestrup, 1991), which considers the news media "the principal means of communicating information about the military to the general public" (Joint Pub 3-61, p. vi) and measures the effectiveness of the military public affairs program upon its ability to communicate with various publics to maintain awareness and support of the Defense Department (Public Affairs Handbook, 1991). Each of the branches of the armed forces - the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps - has a distinct public affairs structure, including how they designate public affairs officers (Public Affairs Handbook, 1991). With the exception of the Marine Corps, which follows Navy guidelines, each branch also has their own set of regulations and policies.

One of the realities of modern military operations has been that they are often subjected to intense scrutiny by the international news media. Under most circumstances, the deployment of U.S. forces attracts large numbers of print and broadcast journalists dedicated to providing their audiences with near real-time information of varying accuracy and completeness. This extraordinary availability of information may well affect the agenda of the executive and legislative branches of government and have important impacts on military decision makers in operational theaters.

Public Relations practice, its approaches and methods have become widely and deeply entrenched in business, government and in many other complex organizations especially in the developed nations of the world. In same manner, its relevance and utility as tool of institutional promotion have equally come to be appreciated in the Armed Forces. The text therefore, within context of the evolution, growth and development of the broad discipline of Public Relations appropriately situates its practice in the military. It articulates and highlights in-depth, the many aspects to public relations practice in the armed Forces drawing examples extensively from especially the experiences of the United States and UK Armed Services. Divided into Four Parts, the book examines the role of the Military in society and traces the evolution of modern public Relations and its development in the military. Under 'Public Relations Principles, Approaches and Practice", it analyses the role and function of public relations in the interface of military and society, and further highlight the purpose of military public relations, its targets, strategies and tactics. It examines Public Relations practice in the Nigerian Military including public perception and management. Current and topical Issues in Public Relations and Communication such as 'Technology, the Military and Public Relations', 'Social Media, Public Relations and the Military', 'Security Threats, Crisis Management and the Role of Communications', and 'Challenges to Military Public Relations Practice' were analyzed. The book finally concludes with 'The Importance of Military Public Relations in a Democratic Society'. Given the perpetual need to constantly `keep the military in the public eye', the book strongly posits that it is appropriate that public relations be properly positioned as the strategic machinery through which the military could seek to identify with the people and invariably, national interest in order for them to render accounts of their performances and seek informed public support as obtains in developed democracies. This book will be a useful source of reference to especially military public relations officers and indeed all military officers across the world. It further should bring forth better insight to the understanding by the civilian populace, communications professionals, and research scholars specializing in military public relations or public affairs operating in diverse regions of the world.

politics, and national security policy.--John R. Ballard "On Point"

This book examines the practices of actors involved in the media reportage of war, and the ways in which these practices may influence the conduct of modern military operations. War is a complex phenomenon which raises numerous questions about the organization of society that continue to challenge all those involved in its study. Increasingly, this includes the need to engage theoretically and empirically with the progressive collapse between the ways in which wars are conducted and the manner in which they are reported in the media. Drawing on the work of Erving Goffman, Military Media Management offers a distinctly new approach to our appreciation of the dynamic relationship between war and media; one that is fundamentally a product of social relations between those engaged in reporting war, and those conducting war campaigns. By exploring how and why the military manage information in particular ways, the text succeeds in providing a framework through which wider sociological investigation of this relationship can be understood. This book will be of much interest to students of military and security studies, media studies, war and conflict studies and IR in general.

My goal for this book is to not only examine historical military-media relationships, but also to provide a few recommendations as a way ahead toward improving future military-media relationships. Conflict between reporter and the military is not new. As war correspondents became of age in the Civil War, the military began its determination to protect its operations. The media have often called this determination "censorship." Since the U.S. military's 1983 invasion of Grenada, commanders have done a questionable job of accommodating the media, as evident by the findings of the Sidle and Hoffman Panels. While this phenomenon of poor support may be due in part to the commander's personal feelings toward the media, it may also be that the commanders public affairs staffs are simply over taxed. As a result, combatant commanders must rely on ad hoc public affairs organizations, such as Joint Information Bureaus, to manage their media operations in combat. Our best opportunity to garner and sustain national and international support for armed conflict in Iraq is by maintaining a healthy relationship with the media. How well our military performs in this media relations endeavor will directly affect the U.S. and international perceptions of our success in Iraq. This book will examine the media environment, historical trends, DoD public affairs policy evolution, and the current status of military public affairs to determine if maybe, now is the time to transform our processes to better support the media and the American public.

The study examines the status of military-media relations in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Based on public relations theory, studies on source-journalist relationships, the historical precedence of wartime military-media relations, studies about military public affairs, and critiques of the Gulf War situation, the author assesses the Gulf War media policy, the post-Gulf War revised DoD policy, and their impact on present relations. The perspectives of media representatives, military representatives, and communication scholars about Gulf War and present military-media relations were gathered through interviews. Findings of each study group were analyzed and compared. Findings of previous studies on the subject are also discussed. The researcher concludes, while some provisions of the Gulf War policy did not facilitate open media coverage, problems in the policy's execution created more tension between the military and the media. Hostility towards the media also remained from the Vietnam era. Military commanders' support is also a prerequisite for media access to units. Military education programs to foster a better appreciation of a free press' role free in a democracy are needed for all members. In addition, the author recommends additional public affairs training, including a mentoring program, be instituted. Also, while the military should continue to provide opportunities for reporters to participate in training exercises to learn about the military, it is unrealistic to expect that most reporters can participate due to shrinking resources at news organizations. Finally, military and media representatives continue a dialogue to regularly discuss issues of mutual concern.