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Media Relations

Media Relations. Dr Laura Cleary. Aim. To enhance the reputation of the Department and Armed Forces both internally and externally, through influencing the understanding, activity and perceptions of internal, domestic and international audiences.” DGMC Corporate Communications Strategy.

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Media Relations

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  1. Media Relations Dr Laura Cleary

  2. Aim To enhance the reputation of the Department and Armed Forces both internally and externally, through influencing the understanding, activity and perceptions of internal, domestic and international audiences.” DGMC Corporate Communications Strategy

  3. Scope • HOW … do people get information? • WHO…are the media? • WHAT…is your perception of the media? • HOW…do you deal with the media?

  4. How do people get their information? Have you seen or heard anything recently about the UK Armed Forces or Ministry of Defence in any of these ways? (Prompted) Figures in brackets show percentage point difference with wave 1 where significant 78% of respondents had seen or heard something about the UK Armed Forces or MOD from the news, a programme or an article Base: All respondents 2,009

  5. Who Are the Media? News Magazines Specialist Journals Wire Services Radio Newspapers Internet T.V.

  6. Who Are the Media? • Wire services • Radio • TV • Newspapers: broadsheet, tabloid daily, evening, Sunday • News magazines • Specialist journals • Internet

  7. The Associated Press is the backbone of the world's information system serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television and online customers with coverage in all media and news in all formats. It is the largest and oldest news organization in the world, serving as a source of news, photos, graphics, audio and video.AP's mission is to be the essential global news network, providing distinctive news services of the highest quality, reliability and objectivity with reports that are accurate, balanced and informed. AP operates 4,000 employees working in more than 240 worldwide bureaus. AP is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members. • AP supplies a steady stream of news around the clock to its domestic members, international subscribers and commercial customers. It has the industry's most sophisticated digital photo network, a 24-hour continuously updated online news service, a state-of-the-art television news service and one of the largest radio networks in the United States. It also has a commercial digital photo archive, a photo library housing more than 10 million images and provides advertising management services. • The scope of AP’s efforts worldwide is extraordinary. Whether reporting on Iraqi prisoner abuse or the difficulty in getting aid to tsunami victims, AP captures the consequences of government action or inaction. • "A fight is what this is. We do not sit in some impartial referee's box where open government is concerned. Like it or not, we're in the game for keeps, and we can either play badly or play well." • Associated Press President Tom Curley, in a 2004 speech, quoted in "Breaking News:

  8. Wire Services

  9. Radio

  10. Radio: ‘feed the beast’ It was clear that the general public still did not know what all the blue berets running around in white vehicles really meant. I cursed the DPKO in my heart for not understanding the vital need the mission had for a radio station or for a competent public information office so that we could build on the desire of the vast majority of Rwandans to reach out with both hands for peace. Lt Gen Romeo Dallaire Force Commander UN Mission to Rwanda 1994

  11. In the future what conflicts should Britain's servicemen and women be involved in? Defending British interests? Keeping the peace in war-torn countries? We want to hear what you think the role of the British armed forces should be. Your views will help make a special day of programmes on 5 live in March. Tell us more about your answers and your experiences of the military in the comments box at the bottom of the questionnaire. The 5 livewireInfluence what we do on 5 live. It's where you make the news

  12. What Are Your Perceptions of the Media? • Is the media free? • Is the media accurate? • Is the media responsible?

  13. Nothing in the universe travels faster than the speed of light… except bad news… Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

  14. Dealing with the Media: News Criteria • Did the event just happen? (timeliness) • Who and how many will be affected by the events? (importance) • Is there controversy or drama? (conflict) • Is it an unusual event? (sensation) • Is the event psychologically close? (identification)

  15. Dealing with the Media • Government press officers need to understand the shape, character and needs of the media. • Issues include: • The audience • Service personnel, dependents, adversary, adversary’s allies • Copy deadlines • Timing and necessity of access • An understanding of what makes a good story

  16. Dealing with the Media “A significant war effort cannot be maintained in the face of public hostility or indifference.” AP 3000 (1991), p. 1.

  17. Dealing with the Media Current Issues • Defence and/or Security Sector Reform • Civilian control of the of the armed forces • Increased contributions to peacekeeping missions • Current operations Related Issues • What is security? (state, regime, public, etc) • Public image and prestige of armed forces • Societal understanding of their new missions and agendas • Trust in their ability to fulfil these goals • Common awareness of the necessity for the armed forces to be reformed.

  18. Dealing with the Media The Slovenian Lesson • Slovenian politicians and the military elite learned that in order to have an efficient and legitimate armed force, there must be a certain level of equally satisfied social, political and functional expectations. • In all phases of defence reform, public opinion was regularly measured and, in many cases, Slovenian public opinion helped to shape the outcome of the National Security System.

  19. Is this a good news or bad news story? Three Stories Three Stories 6,542 Persons Charged with Corruption (Tanjug 15/11/11) Most of the defendants are charged with abuse of power and, to a lesser extent, with giving or accepting bribery, according to Monday's edition of Politika, a Belgrade-based daily. Perhaps the most intriguing are data showing that only during the last year and the first five months of 2011, the prosecutors filed about 2,000 charges against public servants over activities including some elements of corruption. The daily said judges stood out, totaling 424 charges having been filed against them, followed by prosecutors, with 155 charges and police officers with 175. As much as 1,163 charges were filed against other persons with special responsibility. How would you handle it?

  20. State Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac told Politika that the data showed the fight against all forms of corruption had been intensified and that, when it came to the relevant bodies, it was only the beginning of the serious activity that would continue in the future. State Secretary at the Justice Ministry Slobodan Homen said that the relevant state bodies were yet to face great challenges in combating corruption The working group in charge of drafting amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code is working on establishing new criminal and other offences and changing the existing ones to cover a wide range of acts of corruption and to provide for a more efficient court procedure, Homen said.

  21. How would you place this story in context? Three Stories • The forgotten dead of the Iraq war (http://unian.net. 24/03/08) While the number of US troops killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion stands at 4,000, up to three times as many Iraqi soldiers have died -- and the number of civilians killed runs into tens and probably hundreds of thousands, according to AFP. The icasualties.org web site, based only on published reports, shows that around 8,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have died since the March 2003 invasion. Last year however the Iraqi government put the figure at 12,000. Among countries that still have forces in Iraq, the death tolls as of March 24 were: Britain: 175; Poland: 23; Ukraine: 18; Bulgaria: 13; Denmark: eight.

  22. Three Stories

  23. Steering a Relationship with the Media The press

  24. Steering a Relationship with the Media • A free media can potentially challenge policies, highlight inefficiencies, hold public figures accountable and facilitate informed public debate. • The media is a potential conduit between the government and the public. • The media is, potentially, an essential element of good civil-military relations, and may contribute to ‘democratic security policy communities’.

  25. Steering a Relationship With the Media • Truth • Credibility • Sensitivity • Balance • Security • Timeliness • Clear and Consistent Approach

  26. Steering a Relationship With the Media • Truth • Credibility • Sensitivity • Balance • Security • Timeliness • Clear and Consistent Approach By adopting a nurturing, rather than a controlling approach towards the media civil-military relations can be improved.

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