Everyone loves to scoop the Public Affairs Officer and find things in the media before we’ve seen or shared it ourselves … just like we all take pride in fixing IT problems without having to call the help desk, or knowing some obscure personnel regulation the S1 hasn’t heard of.
You and your team might not be the first command members to catch every tweet and article that’s out in open source. Lots of staffies will take pride in finding something in the news before the PAO, like it’s some sort of competition.
Consider it a win that people are paying attention to and talking about what’s in the news. After all, the news is for everyone. This is how our senior leaders, decision makers, and fellow Americans learn about many of the things we do to protect America.
Tell your teammates they’re doing great work, and be ready to pull something from your bucket of responses: discuss the outlet’s credibility; your relationship with the reporter; the topic’s traction in Western press; upcoming DOD engagements on the subject.
Better yet – ask questions and start a conversation about what they saw. How do they think that coverage could affect your unit or mission? Did it seem accurate? Well written? How did they find the article? Is this an outlet or writer they follow regularly? Have they seen any other outlets’ coverage of the same topic?
Though you ought to know the day’s latest breaking news, more important is your deep understanding of media trends and effects on your organization’s resources, authorities and support.
(Photo by Lance Cpl. Isabelo Tabanguil, DVIDS)
