There is an old adage in baseball that an umpire explaining his job once said “I calls em as I sees em.” Well it appears to me that if Justin Pizzi, a reporter at WCAU, the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, was calling balls and strikes his career as an umpire would be over before it began.
Archives for news
We all know the feeling of getting the page in the wee hours to respond to an incident that requires the attention of the public information office.
The attempted car bombing that took place in Times Square in NYC on Saturday evening is one such type of incident where the split second coordination of internal and external information to and from many departments is required.
I made an error. I sent releases to three community papers this past week about my recent department installation. I normally receive my subscription copies of these publications today.
I usually wake up at 5:00am to do some of my PIO chores before I get ready for the job that feeds me. In reviewing the release I sent to the papers a few days ago, I noticed I made a spelling error to the name of one of the politicians in attendance. This is really upsetting since I proof what I write and use an additional person to check for typos. I have written this person’s name in releases numerous times over the years, but this one slipped by me.
We held our 102nd Installation of Officers this past Saturday night. I wrote a post on public perception of installations a few days ago. Contrary to popular belief we did not have to tap the nuclear arsenal to quell any disturbances in the community from rampaging firefighters.
In addition to the installation of officers, Firefighter of the Year Awards, (I was shocked to get the 2009 Firefighter of the Year) service pins (two 50 year members) and speeches, two legislative awards were presented. Congressman Timothy Bishop and Suffolk County Legislator Lynn Nowick were given Special Achievement Awards. Both help our department in many ways. Bishop helped us obtain a new ambulance through a grant and Nowick works the Legislature for us to make sure we get our just due when it comes to extra County funding.
As Public Information Officer I think it is important that we publicize these types of legislative awards as much as possibly. This is a kinder and gentler form of political payback for a job well done.
Talk about timing. Just yesterday morning I posted about the three quick decisions I have to make as a firefighter/PIO when I arrive at a scene. They were, perform the duties of a firefighter if manpower is lacking, perform my normal duties as the PIO, or watch to see the scene unfold to determine where I can best serve. I also mentioned that I occasionally go behind the lines to interact with bystanders. Little did I know that just a few hours later I would have to use all three options when we were toned out to a fully involved house fire.
I was on the phone yesterday with a college president I know who asked me if I or anyone in my Fire Department ever encountered an “Ambush” journalist at the firehouse front door. She had been confronted by a TV consumer complaint investigative reporter who does a segment a few times a week about viewer problems. The reporter and camera crew were waiting for the president to arrive at work.
When most of us write incident report press releases for consumption by the public they are fact based with very little latitude for creative license. One way I “spice” up a release for the media is by offering quotes. I do this in a number of ways – by adding quotes into the body of the release, offering a number of quotes separate from the release at the bottom of the page or prepare a separate page to go along with the release that just contains lead-ins with the relevant quotes.
The FDNY is currently trying to unravel the details concerning an allegedly drunk individual in uniform, sleeping at the entrance to an apartment building following St. Patrick’s Day festivities in New York.
A few years back my department was confronted with a similar situation. The proper crisis management of inebriated firefighters in uniform can be a difficult one to call for a PIO and department leadership.
A difficult situation unfolding for the Jacksonville Beach Police as the department PIO and detectives released a photo to the media of a suspect in a crime that they were looking to bring in for questioning. The problem? The suspect being sought was innocent and misidentified.
The Department, from a crisis standpoint, admitted to their mistake promptly, but damage has still been done.
I wrote a post a few weeks’ backs about whether we, as PIO’s, are carrying the heavy load for the media in regard to supplying them with information from incident scenes. Is the Media taking a Free Ride?
It appears with newsroom financial resources dwindling the media is relying on us more and more to provide more in depth stories, site photo’s and video.
Now, via Ragan Communications, comes a new statistic that reports according to an Australian study, 55 percent of news stories are driven by public relations.
The Firegeezer reported yesterday on a sad case involving two members of the Western New York State Cattaraugus Fire Department. They have been charged with the embezzlement of between $30,000 and $80,000 of Department funds raised.
It appears the powers that be in the Department did not do the proper “size-up.” I think in many instances, you can cut a crisis off before it happens by doing your due diligence.
I have nothing against the late actor Cory Haim. I guess he was a soul tormented by substance abuses that lead to his premature death last week at age 38. Haim was Canadian, from Toronto, and his remains were brought back to the city of his birth for burial.
News circulated over the last few days that Haim’s funeral would be paid for by the City of Toronto. His mother Judy made this statement. Hundreds of outlets, mostly of the Hollywood gossip variety, reported on the story without much additional detail.
I wrote a few days ago about the tragic manhole accident in my own town, Smithtown, NY, that took the life of a seventeen year old boy. The incident was toned out at 9:11pm this past Sunday night.
The media response to the incident left me wondering if the press is looking to us to do the heavy lifting for them.
As a PIO I always look for opportunity to educate the public as the result of a specific incident that my department responds to. When we have the first chimney fire of the year in the fall I usually float out to the media a story on chimney safety. Similar lessons to be learned are sent to the media after CO incidents, MVA’s, electrical fires etc. It’s a great way to let the public know about an incident and ultimately how it can be avoided.
One of the rudimentary things we first learn in the volunteer fire service is to start your size up the moment your pager tones you out. Draw a mental image of where the call is, what type of building and its construction, what equipment will be needed etc. Another early lesson is to do size up virtually all the time, when you are driving through your neighborhood, when you enter a business, when you visit you kid’s school. This could prepare you for future alarms to these areas.
Late Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense released its official policy covering new media and social media. With some three million employees, the DoD is one of the largest organizations in the world, so this is major news.
Every profession has their own jargon. If we can use “deuce and a half,” set of irons,” “knock down” and “job” why can’t television newsrooms use “VOSOT” and “VOSOTVO?”
We all deal with television reporters at major incident scenes. As much as we employ our own internal jargon on the fire ground, they have their own secret language that we hear all the time. To be more media savvy it is important that we understand how they are going about their jobs.
National Information Officers Association Annual Conference set for August 29 – September 1
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I just received an e-mail from Marlee Boenig who is serving as the current President of the National Information Officers Association. Marlee is the Public Information Officer for the Bowling Green Fire Department. Her e-mail was to remind readers of The Fire PIO that the 2010 NIOA Conference will be held August 29 through September 1, 2010 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort, Clearwater Beach, Florida. Mark the dates in your calendar!
I have taken a few days to review all the public information related quotes pertaining to the plane crash and fire in Austin, Texas.
From an Austin Fire Department perspective they did all the right things. On the fire ground their response, attack and search all followed SOP. During the initial news conference Austin Fire Chief Rhonda Mae Kerr spoke briefly, discussed the fire, thanked the Department and applauded the response of the entire unified command in the city. She turned the investigation over to the FBI.
With all the snow in the northeast during this bitter winter a good old “Adopt a Hydrant” program was in order. I am happy to report that it was a big success, due in no small part to the new strength of the word “public” in public relations.
Away from the fire house, in other work that I do, I have quite a bit of interaction with the United States Army and several of their PAO’s. I have been amazed over the last few years of the new openness the Army is exhibiting to the media as well as their attempts to start embracing various forms of social media.
From a community and public relations perspective things are not looking good in Flint, Michigan. First, response time was questioned in the tragic fire last Saturday night that took the lives of four children ages 1-4, and now the Mayor of Flint announced today that 23 firefighters will be laid off tomorrow. The layoffs will leave just 65 firefighters in a city of 118,000. Flint can also lose two fire stations, which would leave just 3 for the entire town. The city is trying to close an $8 million budget shortfall.
Pittsburgh EMS has been thrown into a controversy after a Hazelwood man died February 7th who had called EMS 10 times over a two day period seeking help for a stomach ailment. It is a terrible tragedy to be sure. From a Public Information standpoint, the Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl have been blunt with their reactions to the episode. It remains to be seen what happens over the next several days but initial reaction has fulfilled some of the main tenets of The Fire PIO’s 7 primary responses to a crisis.
The critical eye of the electronic media will view us in greater real time as more and more outlets start using the LiveU system. The system bridges the bandwidth gap needed for live video transmission by “bonding” together multiple cell phone circuits, and according to many news outlets, could substantially reduce the cost of newsgathering and increase their amount of live coverage at breaking scenes.
Many of us have been following the tragic townhouse fire in Flint, Michigan this past Saturday that took the lives of four children ranging in age from 1 to 4. A full investigation is underway to determine two key issues. The first is how the blaze started.
Currently the theory is that one of the children’s fathers allegedly fell asleep while babysitting with food on the stove. Some neighbors claim he was not in the building at all when the fire raged.
The second issue, more germane to The Fire PIO, is how the Flint Fire Department will answer allegations that their response time was inadequate, and what the closing of a local firehouse might have played in the tragedy.
