Public Affairs in the 21st Century: A Force XXI Multiplier.
Abstract
This monograph discusses an often overlooked and much maligned source of information and potential force multiplier--Public Affairs. While reporting activities on the battlefield is not a recent development, technological advances in the past decade have moved war correspondents from the realm of recent historians to current events reporters. Although the origins of war reporting date back to ancient times, this paper focuses on American experiences. Journalists reported widely our revolution. During the Civil War, the U. S. press and military made their first attempts to cooperate. By World War II, motion picture films replayed scenes of great devastation in theaters throughout America. Vietnam is considered by many a watershed for military media relations. Now, nearly instantaneous satellite communications links have all but removed the military's ability to conduct security reviews on media products, other than at the source. The INTERNET and other worldwide communications systems have opened new channels of horizontal information distribution that only herald things to come in the next quarter century. Today's Army Public Affairs structure in our divisions and corps falls markedly short of meeting the challenges of dealing effectively with the news media and completing its other missions (command information and community relations, for example). Significant personnel plus-ups are not likely, but state of the art technology, readily available, can lessen the burdens on the public affairs professionals in tactical units.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA324662
Entities
People
- Carl E. Fischer
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College