Media Interview Plan Development - Essay Example

A. Who are the first persons that you contact for guidance in developing your media engagement plan?  Before I can develop the media engagement plan, I need to have facts and background information about the incident in GATT. I would request such information from the authorized officer and/or personnel on the field of GATT who knew the incident first hand. B. What additional information do you need to know? (RFIs)  I need to know the specific operational information that I am not allowed to disclose. Also, what are the objectives of the Army in engaging with the media about this specific incident. C. What are YOUR Command massage? (3 to 5 minimum)  1. The plan involving GATT is under heavy review and necessary changes shall be implemented to mitigate if not prevent similar incidence from happening again. 2. Replacement troops are being trained about the “field reality” before deploying them in the area of operation. So the replacement troops are more acquainted with the area of operation even before the actual deployment. 3. Capability enhancing measures are already undertaken that includes the upgrade of hardware to the beefing up of troops. D. Develop some 30 second sound bites for release to the media for your upcoming press conference.  The incident at GATT was unfortunate. We underestimated the threat that resulted in the wiping out of our original cell. We acknowledge our mistake and necessary evaluation, adjustments and upgrades are now implemented while we are also constantly re-evaluating our plan so that we will be more responsive to any development there that similar incident can be mitigated if not totally prevented in the future. Let me assure you that the Army is doing everything within its capability and resources to ensure that similar result will not happen again. It was a loss of men and equipment that we do not take lightly. Our new plan and upgrade might not have seen action yet but let me assure you that such plan and upgrades were designed to ensure that similar incident will not happen again. E. Develop 10 anticipated questions and the answers for those questions to ensure you are prepared to address the media. (Be prepared to answer questions you dont want to answer-bridging.)  1. Will you consider the deployment of Batallion in the Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey (GATT) to be wrong because the original planning cell was wiped out. There may be tactical miscalculation in our part that resulted in the unfortunate incident of wiping the original planning cell but the deployment of the troops there is strategically necessary. But let me tell you that we are not taking the incident lightly. We are currently re-evaluating the strategy employed there, including the rules of engagement to help mitigate and even prevent the same situation from happening again. 2. How many are the casualty? As of yesterday at 1700 hours, we accounted 30 injuries and five dead among our troops. 3. What are the measures, training, capability enhancing that you are doing right now to help mitigate or prevent the situation from ever happening again? As I have already mentioned evaluation of the strategy is now currently under way. Let me assure you that we are doing an overhaul of our plan with our panel of experts taking time to look into factors that we might not have considered. As we speak now also, we have already implemented an enhanced training among our personnel to make them more adoptable. We also did capability enhancing measure that includes upgrading of military hardwares. 4. Are these new implements effective? The new plan, training and upgrade have not yet see any action so we still cannot objectively asses its efficacy. But let me tell you that it is way better than the previous plan and necessary precautions and review has been done to mitigate if not prevent similar incidence from ever happening again. 5. What if the plan won’t work and will result in the wiping out of the unit again? That is a possibility but we can also look at it this way, in the entire history of US Army, no cell has been wiped out twice after the implementation of remedial measures. In addition, the recent addition of capability has proven to be effective in mitigating the previous threat and we have also anticipated other threats and had instituted mechanisms and capabilities to prevent and mitigate them. 6. What mistake did you commit in GATT? We underestimated the situation and the threat. 7. Was somebody held accountable for the wiping of the original cell? The officer in charge of the operation in GATT is now currently investigated. Along with the investigation is the evaluation of the plan that was used to determine if there was any culpability or shortcoming on the part of the officers in charge. If there are shortcomings, even the slightest neglect, appropriate charges shall be leveled against them at the proper court. 8. Haven’t we learned our lesson in GATT that we are again sending troops as you mentioned? Our military presence in GATT is an absolute necessity which is why we got to have troops deployed there. We already realize our mistake and this would serve as a lesson so that similar incident will not happen again. 9. Has anyone been discharged of the service because of the botched operation? The Army is following a process in holding its personnel accountable to anything. The same policy applies to the officers in charge of the operation in GATT. If found culpable, they will be charged in proper courts and if the verdict amounts to discharge from the service, then that is the only time that the Army will implement the order of the court. 10. What is your personal opinion about the incident? I adhere to the chain of command. Command has already initiated review, evaluation and has implemented training of the troops and upgrades of the hardware to enable our troops to appropriately respond to any contingency avoiding similar incident from happening again. F. What will you need to consider or do in order to prepare for the upcoming press conference? (Administrative support or interview preparations?)  Interview preparation is needed for the upcoming press release. By interview preparation, it meant having the facts ready of what happened during the GAAT deployment and that would include the casualty. Also the specific remedial measures done after the incident, including training and capability enhancing measures to help mitigate or prevent similar situation from happening again. Read More