[Media-watch] FW: The MediaBridge Newsletter: Rumsfeld's Spinmeister

david Miller david.miller at stir.ac.uk
Mon Mar 24 15:03:17 GMT 2003


look at this foul stuff

----------
From: "Freitag, Alan" <arfreita at EMAIL.UNCC.EDU>
Reply-To: "Freitag, Alan" <arfreita at EMAIL.UNCC.EDU>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 09:29:53 -0500
To: AEJMCPRD at lserv-pc.UNCC.EDU
Subject: The MediaBridge Newsletter: Rumsfeld's Spinmeister

PRD Colleagues,

A couple years ago, a number of you joined me at the Pentagon for a panel
discussion which included newly appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Public Affairs Victoria Clarke (she said to call her 'Torrie').  Thought
you'd all value this insight (below) into her leadership during this
difficult time.

Cheers,

ALAN R. FREITAG, Ph.D., APR
UNC Charlotte
704-687-2867

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Greer [mailto:news at themediabridge.com]
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 4:26 PM
To: LaTarzja Hollowell
Subject: The MediaBridge Newsletter: Rumsfeld's Spinmeister

THE MEDIABRIDGE NEWSLETTER OF MEDIA RELATIONS
March 21, 2003

Dear Readers,

You haven't received a new issue of this newsletter since January, because
I'm currently re-assessing my marketing efforts for my corporate
communications and media relations strategic consulting. For now,
publication of the newsletter has been suspended.

In the meantime, I wanted to pass along to you a great article that
appeared in this morning's Wall Street Journal about the Defense
Department's spinmeister, Victoria Clarke. It is literally chock-full of
insights into high-quality media relations.

Here are some telling excerpts:

* Ms. Clarke's strategic advice: "You are a lot better if you are
consistently available and out front and willing to take the shots."

* Ms. Clarke's hands-on style: She "won over the press corps, especially
at the bureau-chief level, by handing out her home phone and pager numbers
and by being accessible for questions and problems."

* And finally, a word of caution from one of her predecessors: "In the
end, you cannot spin a war and it is foolish to try and do it. If the
troops do well and we achieve our objectives with minimal casualties, you
can't put a bad face on that. Alternately, if we fail, you can't put a
good face on it."

Please visit my web site at www.themediabridge.com for back issues of the
newsletter and more information about my strategic consulting and coaching
services.

Jon Greer
jon at TheMediaBridge.com
(510) 547-7123

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
March 21, 2003

Here's How a Pentagon Aide Manages to Spin the War

By Matthew Rose and Greg Jaffe
Staff Reporters of the Wall Street Journal

For weeks, newspapers, magazines and TV networks have been carrying
stories about gruff generals besting their troops in push-up contests,
features that marvel at the Pentagon's high-tech weapons and sympathetic
portraits of fathers and mothers in military camps.

Chalk those up as wins for Victoria Clarke, the Pentagon's assistant
secretary of defense for public affairs and its chief image-maker.

But now, with the real fighting under way, some wonder whether Ms. Clarke
will be able to keep up the run of favorable press that has flowed ever
since the Pentagon began "embedding" more than 500 reporters alongside
troops.

Ever since Vietnam, relations between the Pentagon and the media have been
characterized by mistrust and dislike. In the first Gulf War in 1991,
restrictions were tight and relations between the two sides poor. In
Kosovo and Afghanistan, wars that were largely conducted from the air,
there was no concerted effort to put reporters near the fighting and the
press complained bitterly that the Pentagon was slow to confirm events on
the ground.

This time around, Ms. Clarke is running the Pentagon's public affairs
effort much like a political campaign -- tapping her years of experience
in public relations and representing politicians.

"If you had hired actors you could not have gotten better coverage," said
Kenneth H. Bacon, a former Pentagon spokesman and now chief executive of
Refugees International, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group.

Ms. Clarke's appointment in spring 2001 raised eyebrows when she freely
acknowledged knowing next to nothing about the military. She also had
little knowledge of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. It was a big change
from predecessors such as Mr. Bacon, who covered the Pentagon for The Wall
Street Journal.

Apart from a brief stint at the now defunct Washington Star, Ms. Clarke,
who is in her early 40s, also had little journalism experience. She got
her start as a press assistant for then-Vice President George Bush in the
early 1980s and worked as press secretary for his 1992 presidential
campaign. She also handled press relations for Sen. John McCain.

Decker Anstrom, former president of the National Cable Television
Association, says Ms. Clarke was instrumental in getting the cable
industry to address its terrible reputation for customer service when she
was the group's vice president for public affairs in the 1990s. Ms. Clarke
instructed the industry that "you are a lot better if you are consistently
available and out front and willing to take the shots," said Mr. Anstrom,
now president and chief operating officer of Landmark Communications,
owner of the Weather Channel.

That approach has informed her work at the Pentagon, say people who work
with her. Ms. Clarke quickly won over the press corps, especially at the
bureau-chief level, by handing out her home phone and pager numbers and by
being accessible for questions and problems. She also earned Mr.
Rumsfeld's trust; she is present each morning at 7 a.m. when he and two
dozen staff members get briefed on events around the world. Pentagon
officials say she has as much or more influence in the department as any
of her predecessors.

She hammers home the Pentagon's messages by putting the secretary front
and center, rarely holding press conferences herself. Mr. Rumsfeld has
appeared before reporters more than any secretary in recent history. Ms.
Clarke also is highly protective of her boss, displaying clear irritation
at negative media profiles of him.

During the Afghanistan war, relations with the press were poor in part
because Pentagon public-affairs officers on the ground were reluctant to
speak until the defense secretary briefed the media. As a result, there
was frequently an information vacuum that reporters filled by interviewing
civilians on the battlefield. That meant initial reports often overstated
the number of civilian casualties, and the Pentagon often failed to
counter these assertions.

During one briefing in October 2001, a bureau chief said the Pentagon
seemed "mean-spirited" by not confirming military actions that everyone on
the ground knew were taking place. By embedding reporters Ms. Clarke and
the Pentagon hope to better portray their side of the story and get
broader coverage of the military's achievements.

Reporters have long complained about the tight control of information at
the Pentagon. Mr. Rumsfeld in particular has cracked down heavily on
unauthorized leaks. At a press conference Thursday, he made it clear that
there were limitations on what he would discuss. "I'm not into the
tick-tock of every hour and every minute," he told the Pentagon press
corps.

Ms. Clarke tends not to mire herself in the details of military campaigns.
Her focus on "message" was particularly apparent when she moved James
Wilkinson, a White House spokesman, to U.S. Central Command headquarters,
which oversees the Iraq war, to be the command's spokesman. During the
Afghanistan war, that position was held by an admiral.

"She brings spin control; that's her major contribution," says Patrick
Sloyan, who won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the first Gulf War for
Newsday.

In the current war, the Pentagon has shifted its stance and is allowing
reporters to live and sleep alongside military units in the battlefield.
There are more than 500 reporters from all kinds of media in the Gulf.
These reporters had to agree to ground rules and are discouraged from
roaming outside of their units.

Ms. Clarke couldn't be reached for comment. Her deputy, Bryan Whitman,
said the point of the restrictions on reporters is to maintain "tactical
surprise and insure the success of the mission."

Until the war started, coverage of the Iraq campaign largely had been
uncontroversial, focusing on day-to-day military life. But the true test
of Ms. Clarke's relationship with the media will come with the big battles
-- especially if all don't go as the Pentagon hopes. Already there have
been signs of tension. On Tuesday, Ms. Clarke told a conference call with
Washington-based bureau chiefs that she had to warn a few media outlets
for revealing too much information about upcoming operations. So far,
though, some local military commanders are potentially causing friction by
giving out more information than Ms. Clarke might like.

"People in Washington and the bureau chiefs spent a lot of time" figuring
out the how the embedded process should work, said Charles J. Lewis,
Washington bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers. "How it plays out in
theater is a different question."

Ultimately, said Mr. Bacon, the former Pentagon spokesman, the success of
Ms. Clarke's strategy will be determined by progress on the battlefield.
"In the end, you cannot spin a war and it is foolish to try and do it," he
said. "If the troops do well and we achieve our objectives with minimal
casualties, you can't put a bad face on that. Alternately, if we fail, you
can't put a good face on it."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jon Greer
MediaBridge
6400 Hollis Street, Suite 6
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-547-7123
jon at themediabridge.com
www.themediabridge.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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