Seeking Every Advantage: The Impact of Military Media Relations on the Operational Commander

Abstract : Technological advances have greatly improved reporting from the scene of battle and conflict, and therefore have radically increased the media's potential to influence and impact the outcome of future military operations. The overriding issues of contention between the military and the media revolve around three critical factors: access, censorship, and timely reporting from the field. Operational commanders' foremost concerns center on operational security, mission accomplishment and troop safety. Their two disparate yet complementary objectives must be reconciled. Military commanders control sanctioned access to the military area of operations; the situation is thus rife with potential for conflict between the two. Various methods of information control have been employed through history. Censorship, ground rules, denial of access and media pools (the most widely used) each has its pros and cons. The unique attributes of military operations other than war have further complicated the issue for operational commanders. Information provided by the mass media can be a force multiplier for the astute commander; he must adopt a proactive approach toward media relations in order to realize the media's potential for improving his chances for mission accomplishment. His approach must include personal involvement, organizational reform and force-wide education and training as he seeks to balance the legitimate and worthy objectives of both the military operation and the media covering the story.