The Public
Information Officer in Search and Rescue
What is a Public Information
Officer? A Public Information Officer (“PIO”) is a representative of
an official organization. This person serves as a central source of information
for release by the department and responds to requests for information
by the news media and the community.
In search and rescue
operations, the PIO might be a representative of any number of organizations,
including:
1. The local law enforcement
entity (frequently the county sheriff or state police);
2. The local search
and rescue organization; or,
3. The regional or
state search and rescue organization.
In any SAR incident,
the PIO serves a number of important roles:
1. Assisting news
personnel in covering incidents;
2. Assisting the news
media on an oncall basis;
3. Preparing and
distributing news releases;
4. Arranging for, and
assisting at, news conferences;
5. Coordinating and
authorizing the release of information about victims and
incidents;
6. Assisting in crisis
situations within the agency
7. Coordinating the
release of authorized information concerning agency operations
8. Posting, monitoring
and managing the use of Social Media outlets
As you can see from
the list above, the primary purpose of the PIO is to provide a central
source of information to the media. At the same time, the PIO serves
another equally important role of keeping others in positions of
authority and leadership from having to deal with the media while performing their
duties.
It is the role of the
PIO to answer the most common questions, those of “who, what, when, where,
why, how, how come?” The PIO then goes on to describe what the various
agencies are doing about the situation. Because sharing information
with the media can be a difficult job, SAR organizations should be
certain to provide necessary and appropriate training for all individuals
that might serve in the capacity of PIO.
Why is a PIO Important?
The public demands,
and indeed deserves, to be made aware of the circumstances and events
associated with a SAR incident. This is best accomplished through
the media, which has direct and often immediate access to the public. Furthermore,
proper public information at a SAR incident will enable the SAR
authority to provide preventive SAR education to the public.
Over the years, some
SAR organizations have tried to avoid dealing with the media. Some
have been known to say, “The media NEVER gets it right.” In fact, by
avoiding the media, a SAR entity can rest assured that the media will
not get it right. Only by dealing directly with the media, in all
it's forms, can we assure that the story is as close to accurate as
possible.
Who Makes a Good PIO?
First and foremost, a
PIO needs to be very knowledgeable in the field of SAR operations. For this reason, PIO’s should be chosen from among the veterans of a
SAR organization. Some people are natural teachers, and the
role of PIO is somewhat a teaching role. Still, the best teachers
are those who are very well trained in the topic.
In addition to
experience, a PIO needs to have the proper balance of humility
and self-confidence. When he media or public see an egocentric
rescuer in front of the camera, then the focus becomes the PIO and his/her agency not the message.
A good PIO has great
respect for the media. Power comes through knowledge – knowledge
that is shared, not knowledge that is kept. The more respect a PIO
has for the media, the better s/he will be at communicating the important
messages to them.
When choosing a PIO,
any organization should ask who it wants to be the spokesperson for the
group. often, the most well respected individuals in the organization
will be good candidates for PIO. This is because the respect those individuals
have gained over time is most often based on the combination of
their personality, knowledge and expertise. Purposefully choose your
PIO. Take your time, and choose someone who is
polished, professional, humble, and knowledgeable.
General
Guidelines
It is true that “bad
news travels faster than good news.” Since most SAR
incidents involve some bad news for the victims, the media is often
quick to respond to our calls. While a SAR team’s PIO should be
prepared at any time to respond to media calls regarding an incident,
an experienced PIO will know the moment a SAR call is dispatched
whether it will attract media attention.
There is no such thing
as a “media circus.” The media professionals are there to do their
job, and it becomes the PIO’s responsibility/opportunity to help them
do their job. A PIO should maintain an attitude of helpfulness
at all times. His/her perspective should always be, “I’m here
to help you, and to make sure I get you the information I
have.” Some level of excitement and adrenaline should always be
present, so the PIO maintains focus. A lazy or disinterested
PIO makes a bad PIO.
Your PIO should also
not ignore social media. Frequently, social media streams like Twitter and
Facebook are breaking stories well before more traditional media outlets can
get on scene. In some cases traditional media organizations like CNN and
their iReport site are even "crowdsourcing" news. Because
of the nature of social media, these tools can be used not only to get your
message out, but also to see how you message is being understood by the public.
As it is two way communication, it can also be used to gather information.
Consider
posting missing person information and mission updates to your team Facebook
Page and Twitter feeds but only do so with the authorization of the agency
having jurisdiction. Because this can be done "in the moment" and
from mobile devices, this can keep the public updated outside of
the traditional media cycle.
We will go more into
Social Media for Search and Rescue at the joint MRA / NASAR Conference in June
and will follow up with a blog post.
Stay Safe!
