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Media Relations

Newsletter 09-11
December 2008

Chapter 2: Contemporary Public Affairs

Section IV
Training a Public Affairs Workhorse

MAJ Kristen Carle

The most important factor that underpins public support of the armed forces at war is clear articulation of political and military objectives. This step involves truthful and forthright information provided to all press outlets. Each "on-the-ground" public affairs officer (PAO) is important and valuable, regardless of location at the brigade combat team, division, or corps level. Each PAO is a strategic-level communicator (either directly or indirectly) and hence must be thinking as such, no matter what position he/she holds. With this in mind, the mobile public affairs detachment (MPAD) of today is staffed, structured, sourced, equipped, and trained to accomplish the mission that best suits today's information requirements.

Training for public affairs (PA) units should support current doctrine. Soldiers assigned to PA units should be trained to perform tasks that support the doctrinal missions of PA units per Field Manual (FM) 46-1, Public Affairs Operations. Units deploying to war should anticipate performing increased roles with regard to media relations, often at the expense of traditional command information efforts.

Traditional versus Contemporary Information Mission Requirements: Mobile Public Affairs Detachments as the Workhorses of a Public Affairs Organization

MPADs are designed as the workhorses of any PA organization. The MPAD modification table of organization and equipment (MTOE) (2007) is structured to support command information and public information requirements. According to FM 46-1, the MPAD's primary tasks are to:

• Monitor and assess the perceptions of external audiences through access to civilian commercial news sources.
• Assess the information environment, and develop a PA estimate of the situation as the initial part of operational planning.
• Assist the PAO in operational planning and policy and ground rules for media, coordination for logistical support to PA, and the coordination of PA operations with higher and subordinate headquarters.
• Plan and develop information products, which will be produced through contracted services and/or the use of organic equipment and facilities.
• Acquire, produce, and transmit information products throughout the theater, between the theater and home station, and between the theater and Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA).
• Create and disseminate print, photographic, audio, and video products for external release directly to civilian media who do not have representatives within the theater of operations.
• Conduct media facilitation and develop information strategies.
• Prepare commanders, staff personnel, and other command members for interviews, press conferences, and similar media interaction.

There are 31 PA units in the Army Reserve, consisting of a combination of MPADs, public affairs detachments (PADs), broadcast operations detachments, and public affairs operations centers (PAOCs). All have either deployed in support of a Global War on Terrorism mission (Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Guantanamo Bay) and the Balkans or are currently mobilized.

Posturing Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Structure to Match Augmentation Demand-Supporting the Corps Public Affairs Requirements

The 302nd MPAD under MNC-I supported two major subordinate commands: one in support of the 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command (ESC) (in Balad, at LSA-A) and the other with the 3rd Infantry Division (3ID) as part of MND-C. FM 46-1 states that the MPAD normally augments a corps PA section or a PAOC; however, in this case, the MPAD (as with most MPADs since the start of the war) augmented a division-sized element and provided labor and equipment to establish and operate a media operations center in support of "the surge" contingency operation.

At the division level, PA operations are normally segregated into three sections: media relations, command information, and current operations. In most cases, MPADs are aligned to support command information requirements. Traditionally, this has been "all that is required"-feed the Army internal need for information. Today, command information is just not enough, and PA as an operational practice demands that its PA workhorses bear a greater role in the information fight.

In hindsight, the 302nd MPAD was best positioned to conduct the 316th ESC mission for several reasons. Primarily, the 316th ESC mission remained focused on command information. The 302nd MPAD (as with all Reserve and National Guard MPADs trained by First Army) trained with a command information focus in mind. There is relatively little formal training for enlisted PA Soldiers in the tasks that the MPAD is designed to perform according to FM 46-1. Typically, the task and, therefore, most training associated with external media relations are relegated to the commissioned officers in the PA unit. Therefore, 15 of 20 authorized personnel are usually dedicated to capturing and creating print and broadcast products to disperse to internal audiences. With 75 percent of the MPAD equipped and trained to focus products toward an internal audience, the remaining 25 percent, the unit's officers, were left to engage the external media through various other methods of media relations.

The three MPAD PAOs located at 3ID had experience and were placed in a variety of roles at both the division and brigade combat team (BCT) levels. For the 302nd MPAD officers, these roles included the PA future plans officer, the division PA operations officer (night shift), and an assistant BCT PAO. These capabilities included:

• Preparing commanders, staff personnel, and other command members for interviews, press conferences, and similar media interaction.
• Assisting the PAO in operational planning and policy, establishing ground rules for the media, coordinating logistical support to PA, and coordinating PA operations with higher and subordinate headquarters.
• Acquiring, producing, and transmitting information products throughout the theater, between the theater and home station, and between the theater and HQDA.
• Creating and disseminating photographic, audio, and video products for external release directly to civilian media who do not have representatives within the theater of operations.
• Conducting media facilitation and developing information strategies.

Posturing Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Structure to Match Different Augmentation Requirements-Looking toward Future Improvements Based on Current Demand

The mission requirements for the 316th ESC and 3ID, while similar in some ways, were different. While the 316th ESC remained in a "supporting effort" role under MNC-I, 3ID (Task Force Marne) conversely held "main effort" operations in conjunction with other MNDs (in the north and in Baghdad) and demanded a greater emphasis on media relations versus the traditional MPAD focus of command information. While the Soldiers at the 316th ESC and 3ID focused on the command information task of acquiring, producing, and transmitting information products throughout the theater, the 3ID focus promoted greater emphasis on media relations. Eighty percent of the focus for most of the 15 months on the ground was external media outreach.

The 3ID PAO's primary task was creating and disseminating print, photographic, audio, and video products for external release directly to civilian media both in and out of the theater of operations. Meeting this 80 percent requirement with only 25 percent structural MPAD capability left much to be desired in the area of manning, training, and sourcing. As with most MPADs, 3ID staffed four media relations officers. The rest of the Soldiers were either print or broadcast journalists. The task of external media outreach fell under the media relations division. The media relations division pooled media relations officers and senior noncommissioned officers for all other marketing outreach duties. Most of these Soldiers were not formally trained to the level required to meet the challenging measures of effectiveness demanded by division-level commanders of today.

Matching Public Affairs Tasks to the Expanding Role of Public Affairs Outreach

While traditional PA doctrine outlines capabilities that are supposed to be sourced by a collectively trained MPAD, MPADs today are not trained nor equipped to be commensurate with the tasks. MPADs should be able to assist the division PA staff to aggressively and decisively articulate tactical and operational activities in support of strategic national policy and those political and military objectives that shape American perceptions. Hopefully, these actions will promote positive organizational recognition. What was needed in 3ID were the PA requirements to: (1) monitor and assess the perceptions of external audiences through access to civilian commercial news sources; (2) conduct assessments of the information environment, to include development of a PA estimate of the situation as the initial part of operational planning; and, (3) plan and develop information products, which will be produced through contracted services and/or the use of organic equipment and facilities. These capabilities do not necessarily come organic in a division PA staff, however, and by doctrinal standards, are supposed to be sourced by an augmenting MPAD.

As development of products and reaching the national media became the measure of effectiveness in 3ID, it became increasingly clear that the MPAD's skill and development level needed more training on media relations and "marketing to external media sources," even if it meant perhaps less in command information product development. On today's battlefield, even at the tactical BCT level, print and broadcast journalists need to "think forward" in order to shape internal products for use with external interests.

MPAD training shortfalls remain in the following areas: (1) management of media approach planning; (2) prototype product development; (3) commercial-quality production; (4) operational media analysis; (5) product distribution and dissemination to external media markets; (6) strategic communications planning and execution; (7) Web site development and interface; (8) "new media" (blog interaction); and (9) media effects analysis. In an age where "independent local, national, and international media coverage of our military operations and our enemies' activities are critical to our success in the global information environment," these lanes are the last where we would want to assume with less than aggressive and decisive effort.

The Area of Future Focus

As "war reporting" will likely continue to drop significantly this year, taking a back seat to the 2008 presidential campaign, it becomes more important to enhance our outreach methods in order to entice and hold media interest. This enhancement starts with expanding the training and expertise of those conduits doing the outreach; namely, MPAD workhorses at the division level. Enhancement in the traditional areas of strategic planning; senior leader talking points preparation, production, and editing; and processing of press releases and other written products for release to the media are imperative during training. Other nontraditional but required actions might include tracking product play and reach; media monitoring of U.S. and international press; reaching "new media" tools; and designing, developing, and managing a comprehensive Web site.

Media outreach and the embed programs are ways to inform the Western public, execute U.S. political objectives, provide public understanding, and garner American support. In the dawn of the sixth year of the fight in Iraq and the 3ID's conclusion of its third deployment, the Reserve forces continue to move through recurring mobilizations. In light of ongoing deployments, MPAD commanders must ensure that MPAD capabilities, training, and expertise match information requirements at "individual division" yet "collective corps" levels. Sustainment of American support demands that these converging information necessities are sourced with Soldiers who can provide successful and insightful strategic communications plans that address complex issues. Assessing global information and media environments through a process that actually implements information campaigns that thoroughly inform decision makers and public audiences may not necessarily be demanded by all commands to the same level that existed in MND-C, but, most certainly, it should.