The Importance of the Media to Military Officers

The Importance of the Media to Military Officers by MAJ Benjamin F. Cureton III November-December 2011 49 and study how to engage the media and not shy away. In addition, all units should conduct ongoing media training, not just prior to deployment as “check the block” training.

Media on the battlefield Gone are the days when the media sat out of harm’s way on the battlefield. Embedded reporters are all over the battlefield, so we only get one chance to get the correct story out to people. Today reporters are on the front lines with the soldiers, getting a firsthand account of what soldiers encounter on a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day basis. Building a solid relationship with the media is crucial to ensure that the public fully understands what is going on in combat. Understanding strategic communication is an important skill. For example, officers must prepare for interviews. We must read the articles or news broadcasts the reporters have done before we interview with them. Modern-day wars depend on defeating domestic and international public opinion as well as defeating the enemy on the battlefield. Media shapes the way the public forms its opinion on the wars or conflicts. The enemy knows this all too well. Whether they are true or not, our enemies have flooded the media with their stories. They only care about getting their opinions and propaganda in circulation. Therefore, it is important our military prepare to counter-attack quickly to get the truth out. The military has paid a heavy price for its inability to engage the media. We must change the old military’s negative view of the media and learn how to incorporate them into our units. We need to ensure that all officers receive media training throughout their military careers. This will help educate our officers so they can spread their knowledge back to the forces as the military transitions into a mobile fighting force to win the global war on terrorism.

MAJ Benjamin Cureton is an Armor Branch officer assigned to G-3 Training (Army Forces Generation) at Fort Bragg, NC. He served two one-year rotations during Operation Iraqi Freedom with Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq and 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Other assignments included 137th Ordnance Company and Company B, 1-37 Armor, 2nd BCT, 1st Armored Division, both in Germany. Acronym Quick-Scan BCT – brigade combat team (Editor’s note: For a media-training tool, see U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs Office’s media guide at http://www.tradoc.army.mil/pao/ viwebpage/mediaguide09/MediaGuide09.pdf. There may be other tools available.)