READY FOR TODAY – EVOLVING FOR TOMORROW
only has this misunderstanding played
out in the news, but it has manifested
itself elsewhere – to the extent of being
acknowledged and addressed by military
and non-military members alike – by
appearing in trade, academic and third-
party publications. 21 22 23
Perhaps there is hope yet again, however,
at least within the US Department of
Defense. In 2017, then-US Secretary of
Defense James Mattis directed senior
military leaders to start engaging the mass
media. He stated, “Communications (sic)
is the job of the commander, not just
the PAO,” seemingly acknowledging a
trend of some commanders avoiding
media engagements altogether. 24 While
a relevant point, every service member
should – and must – be ready to engage
the media in order to communicate their
organisation’s key themes and messages
to all audiences, not just senior leaders.
Training is obviously central in this
regard; PAOs are not absolved of
their duty to educate members of their
formations regarding the nature of news
and how to engage the mass media.
Likewise, commanders and leaders at
all levels should support their PAO in this
effort for the sake of readiness and not
simply dismiss such training as trivial or
a waste of time. 25
The Nature of News
There are two essential elements the
military leader must consider in order to
understand the nature of news. First, one
must ask the question, “What is news?” Of
course, there are dictionary definitions of
the term, but something more insightful is
required to understand it. One sentiment
of what news is holds that if “…‘a dog
bites a man’ – that’s a story; ‘A man bites
a dog’ – that’s a good story.” 26 Another
asserts that news is “women, wampum
and wrongdoing,” or more simply put,
“sex, money and crime.” 27 Thought-
it is, and to not view the mass media
as some sort of entity to be feared or
avoided. Mass media organisations exist
to make money primarily through the
sale of advertising space. In order to sell
advertising space, they
must give advertisers
a reason to buy such
space. That reason
comes by way of the
readers, listeners and
viewers that mass
media organisations
strive
to
attract
who will consume
advertising as a by-
product of consuming
news and associated
programming
(a
mutually
beneficial
relationship
for
The mass media industry is first and foremost a money-making business
advertisers
and
the
that relies on attention grabbing headlines to generate profit by way of
mass media). In order
advertisers and subscribers.
to attract a followership,
Second, the military leader must
the mass media run headlines that grab
understand that the mass media business
one’s attention and entice them to read,
is just that – a business. 29 Notwithstanding
listen or view. This leads us back to the
state-funded organisations such as
question of ‘what is news?’ Because
the British Broadcasting Corporation,
women, wampum and wrongdoing never
mass media organisations exist to make
fail to attract an audience, editors-in-
money and they do so, primarily, through
chief will always assign their journalists
the sale of advertising space. 30 It is all
to cover such stories thereby dictating
well and proper that individual journalists
what news is. In the era of the 24-hour
may accept the daily stress of deadlines
news cycle, controversial headlines are
for an average, meagre salary of
what sell and good news rarely features
$40,000 (£24,000 in the UK) per year out
for good reason – audiences have little
of some noble sentiment of keeping the
interest in it. 36 It is perhaps human nature
31 32 33
general public informed.
However,
to gravitate toward stories of controversy,
their corporate leadership did not go into
murder, scandal, gossip and the like, and
business with the monetary objective of
news editors are acutely aware of – and
breaking even or tolerating losses; noble
capitalise upon – this fact. 37
sentiments do not pay the bills or achieve
the bottom line of generating profit no
Knowing that mass media is a business
matter how much some journalists may
should, theoretically, put military leaders
complain. 34 35
at ease. When a journalist requests
to cover a military unit’s operation,
The nature of news, then, is a concept
exercise, etc., nine times out of 10 all
that is easily understandable and allows
that the journalist really cares about is
the military leader to see it for what
provoking as these and other efforts to
wax philosophical about what news may
be, there is a more straightforward and
practical answer: News is whatever the
editor-in-chief says it is. 28
21 Company Commanders, “Why Bother with the Media?,” Army Magazine, July 2010, https://www.usma.edu/caldol/siteassets/armymagazine/docs/2010/CC_ARMY_10-07%20(JUL10)-Media.
pdf.
22 Steven Boylan, “The Military-Media Relationship: An Exercise in Strategic Patience,” Military Review 91, no. 5 (September-October 2011): 5-6, https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/
military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20111031_art001.pdf.
23 Thomas Day, “The Media is Failing to Communicate the Military to Civilians,” Task & Purpose, February 17, 2015, https://taskandpurpose.com/the-media-is-failing-to-communicate-the-
military-to-civilians/.
24 Kevin Baron, “Mattis to Generals: Start Talking to the Press,” Defense One, October 9, 2017, https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2017/10/mattis-generals-start-talking-press/141639/.
25 Meghann Myers, “The Army just dumped a bunch of mandatory training to free up soldiers’ time,” Army Times, April 24, 2018, https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/04/24/the-
army-just-dumped-a-bunch-of-mandatory-training-to-free-up-soldiers-time/.
26 Jesse Williams, The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899), 223.
27 Kathy English, “English: Who decides what’s news,” Toronto Star, May 1, 2010, https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2010/05/01/english_who_decides_whats_news.html.
28 Carole Howard and Wilma Mathews, On Deadline: Managing Media Relations (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2000), 33.
29 Howard and Mathews, On Deadline, 36.
30 Stephen Quinn, “An Intersection of Ideals: Journalism, Profits, Technology and Convergence,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 10, no. 4
(December 2004): 1.
31 “Average Journalist Salary,” PayScale, accessed December 7, 2018, https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Journalist/Salary.
32 Average Journalist Salary,” PayScale, accessed December 7, 2018, https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Journalist/Salary.
33 Jay Harris, “News and Profits,” The Nation, May 10, 2001, https://www.thenation.com/article/news-and-profits/.
34 Christine Lagorio, “Does Media’s Profit-Quest Harm Democracy?,” CBS News, February 8, 2007, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/does-medias-profit-quest-harm-democracy/.
35 Victor Pickard, “Take the profit motive out of news,” The Guardian, July 23, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/23/newspapers-internet-adverstising.
36 Adam Epstein, “Here’s what happened when a news site only reported good news for a day,” Quartz, December 5, 2014, https://qz.com/307214/heres-what-happened-when-a-news-site-
only-reported-good-news-for-a-day/.
37 Jacob Burak, “Outlook: Gloomy,” Aeon, September 4, 2014, https://aeon.co/essays/humans-are-wired-for-negativity-for-good-or-ill.
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