Exclusive: Media Training Now Required for Iraq-Bound Soldiers

[leftchick]

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000760609

By Joe Strupp

Published: January 18, 2005 12:00 PM ET

NEW YORK As the U.S. military approaches nearly two years in the Iraq conflict, media training for soldiers going into the war zone has been stepped up, becoming mandatory for Army troops since October, E&P has learned.

"Talking point" cards for military personnel, meanwhile, are being updated regularly as the war progresses -- often as much as once a week -- to keep up with the conflict's changing issues and the proximity of embedded reporters. Among the current talking points: "We are a values-based, people-focused team that strives to uphold the dignity and respect of all."

Soldiers preparing for deployment in hostile or critical areas have received some kind of media training in handling press inquiries since as far back as the first Persian Gulf War, according to several military press officers. Such training has also included pocket cards with suggested talking points for the combatants, which advise them how best to promote the military operation and avoid awkward or confrontational interviews.

"As situations happen, you will have ever-changing talking points, as much as every week," said Capt. Jeff Landis, a Marine Corps public-affairs spokesman. "They are tailored to the situation."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Plaid Adder]

1. They're about to put their asses on the front line

and their higher-ups are worried about what they're going to say to the media after they get a leg blown off.

What's wrong with this country, right there in a nutshell.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[saigon68]

2. Filthy Liars

I hope the "we are winning bullshit" doesn't get in the way of the body bags coming out. Then they (the Military Criminals) will really crack down on the "BODY BAG" photos.

[aden_nak]

3. Yet our troops say they don't have enough urban combat training.

Way to fucking prioritize. Hey, here's something else we could spend the Media Training budget on.

ARMOR

[cap]

4. I m sure spin cards will get handed off to the media

when soldiers are disgusted with the lies...or posted on the internet...

[VegasWolf]

5. They get spin cards but still can't get vests! Priorities. n/t

[Carni]

6. MUST READ- Armstrong Williams firm also up to their eyeballs in this

I posted this the other day but it didn't exactly have a catchy title and I don't think anyone read it (wahh! wahhh!)

**Ketchum Inc. is the same firm that the Bush admin funneled 240,00 dollars through to pay Armstrong Williams.

The full article is a must read--(I can't post enough here in a few paragraphs to fully illustrate how involved Ketchum is with the US military's PR that has been released to the media)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:y--CvPKymEIJ:www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20021112workingp2.asp+ketchum+saudi+arabia&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


The Working Life: Military personnel get PR tips from Ketchum

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer


A week after Rick Thomas left his post on the Patriot missile project in 1990, Iraq invaded the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait. Soon U.S. troops were headed to Saudi Arabia preparing for battle.

Not Thomas. The longtime Army officer was on his way to a yearlong assignment working in the private sector, in his case gaining experience in public relations at Ketchum's offices in PPG Place.
He didn't want to go.

"Honestly, I tried everything I could to get out of Pittsburgh," he conceded. Nothing against Ketchum, but he wanted to be a part of containing Saddam Hussein.

More than a decade later, Col. Rick Thomas might get another shot at that. He's in Kuwait, serving as chief of public affairs for the U.S. 3rd Army. His last assignment was as deputy director of public affairs for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., where he advised top Army officials on explaining the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

To this day, he carries a Ketchum card in his wallet that lays out the key points in teaching executives how to deal with TV and newspaper reporters.

Career Army officers have been trading their uniforms for business suits and working at the Pittsburgh agency for the past two decades. The Army calls this "training with industry," and it operates similar programs in a number of areas where private sector expertise could be useful in the military.

** Reference

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56330-2005Jan7.html

"In taking the money, funneled through the Ketchum Inc. public relations firm, Williams produced and aired a commercial on his syndicated television and radio shows featuring Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige"

[htuttle]

7. Doesn't each unit have it's own 'political officer' to handle this?

That worked for Stalin, anyway.

:shrug:

[MADem]

14. They are called

...Public Affairs Officers or Public Information Officers.

In peacetime, service personnel are told to refer all questions to this person. However, when you embed reporters, you can't limit their access to the unit personnel, so instead, they try to threaten the poor kids so that they keep their mouths shut.

This shit won't fly if they go to a draft--they can tell draftees to shut up till the cows come home, doesn't mean they'll do it. The discipline of the AVF is commendable, poor bastards.

[Straight Shooter]

8. Media training for soldiers = lipstick on bush's war pig. eom

[hadrons]

9. Is this story real, or lifted from a Stanley Kubrick script???

folks, we are in Bizzarro World

[sarcasmo]

10. Media training LMFAO= it's a team effort, just doing it for the team

What a joke Chimpy has done with our so called free country. The Government wants it's soldiers to be drones void of emotion and to not buck the system. They don't want soldiers asking thought questions like where is our Armor and why are you buying bullets from Asia. Chimpy turning his soldiers into little sheep with no minds of their own.

[Moderator]

11. leftchick

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[Mountainman]

12. The repugs have a bast fax in Iraq now to make the new talking points

When will fascism end in this country?

[gratuitous]

13. Study and memorize these handy phrases

We are not an occupying force.

We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

We've turned the corner in Iraq.

We are winning the battle for Iraqi hearts and minds.

Inside every Iraqi is an American waiting to be born and breathe free.

It's easy to kill women and children; just don't lead them so much.

Oops, scratch that last one and replace with:

Those women and children were dead when we got here.

It must have been the insurgents.