Military Editors

For a lesson in exactly how to make a story relevant and readable read this article by Dijon Rolle of U.S. Army Garrison Baden-Wuerttemburg.

Capt. Emily Stehr enjoys a little downtime during her deployment to Iraq with the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment in Vilseck, Germany. Stehr battled with suicidal thoughts, but was able to cope after seeking assistance at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

In researching “Breaking the silence: Soldier conquers suicidal thoughts,”  Rolle did more than get her subject to talk about her feelings – Capt. Stehr was looking for a platform – she told the story of the story. 

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One great reference:

Poewar.com: Solutions For Writers.

Tip of the hat to past colleague Gary St.Lawrence. Link found on his site.

Folio: magazine reports on the passing of a milestone in the reorganization of the news industry.

Yesterday, Nielsen Business Media reported that Editor & Publisher was shutting down.Clearly, Nielsen concluded that the supplier community serving the newspaper industry can no longer sustain a media business that reports on the newspaper industry. When you get to the point where the suppliers have dwindled—or not enough of them believe in the value of using a third-party media source for the marketing—you’ve got a problem.And that tells us a lot about the state of the newspaper industry.

via A Death Knell for the Newspaper Business? – Tony Silber – Blogs B2B @ FolioMag.com.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates & Soldiers, originally uploaded by The U.S. Army.

A high official meets with Soldiers. It’s an extraordinary event in their lives, but it offers many cliche traps to avoid. The worst would be “The Man in the Middle,” a version of the Firing Squad in which everyone bunches together around the leader for a group portrait. Great for participants, but makes a pretty lousy news photo. Better to get out a long lens and zoom in on the reactions of one or two people, or on the emotions of the interaction between the official and the individual, if the personage gets close enough.
It takes a good eye to spot an extremely creative composition like this one – definitely front page material. It gives a sense of place, and of the importance of the individual photographed. The presence of cameras and the attentiveness of the Soldiers draw the focus to Secretary Gates. The weakness of the 3/4 rear view of Gates is overcome by the rest of the elements.

“U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talks to soldiers deployed to field operating base Airborne in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan, after reenlisting eight soldiers, May 8, 2009. Secretary Gates visited Afghanistan and met with military and local leaders. DOD photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison”

Homecoming at Fort Hood, originally uploaded by The U.S. Army.

Whether you snicker or “aww” at this one depends on your level of cynicism. When you’ve done a hundred homecomings, it’s hard to stay alert for the unique moment. Great catch by Spc. Lewis.

“U.S. Army Spc. Leo Leroy gets a kiss from Regina Leroy and a bow-wow welcome from dogs Yoshi and Bruiser at a homecoming ceremony on Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 28, 2009. Leroy, assigned to E Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, returned after a year in Qayarrah in northern Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Sharla Lewis”

, originally uploaded by Utter East.

Is running a photo of a cute baby with an adorable expression a cliche? Yes. Could the lighting be better on the mother? Yes (a little). Could the crop be tighter? Yes. Would I run this picture, as-is, on the front page? Absolutely. It’s the grand opening of a child development center. What do you want – baby Maleah or a group shot at the ribbon cutting?
This picture really brings it home. Lighting and timing are perfect on the main subject.

‘Master Sergeant Adrienne Kelley drops off her daughter, Maleah, at the new child development center at Fort Stewart. Photo Credit: Jacquelene Elise Van Pool (USAG Fort Stewart).”

Red, White, and Blue, originally uploaded by The U.S. Army.

The Fort Hood story in one photo: the scope of the tragedy, who the fallen were, how the military remembers its own.

FORT HOOD, Texas- The remains of the Nov. 5 massacre victims at Fort Hood are loaded aboard an aircraft before being flown to Dover Air Force Base, Del. Twelve Soldiers and one civilian were killed Nov. 6 at the post’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Ortiz)

Photo file: Low angle, originally uploaded by Utter East.

Striking image courtesy low angle and light. Highly emotional until you realize the victim is simply a dummy used for combat lifesaver training.

If Google Wave lives up to the hype, could today’s New Media be tomorrow’s CB Radio?  See How Google Wave could transform journalism | Technology | Los Angeles Times.

If you want a provocative headline, try this one: “Social networking puts operational security, Soldiers lives at risk.”

Eve Meinhardt, writing in the Fort Bragg Paraglide, seems to go against everything we’re preaching in Army public affairs today, especially given the social media emphasis in the 2009 Worldwide Public Affairs Symposium in April and the Association of the United States Army conference last week.

The headline seems to caution against any participation. The tone continues through most of the article.

But the author never flashes the “DO NOT ENTER” light. Instead, she offers a stern warning, to the entire military community, “Don’t be stupid”:

Kellie Neuschwanger, Security and Intelligence Division, Directorate of Emergency Services, said that the safety of Soldiers, the Families and everyone working on Fort Bragg should be at the forefront of everyones mind when they write a “tweet” or update their social networking pages. “Each one of us – Soldier, Family member, civilian or contractor – has knowledge that is valuable to the enemy. Even providing mundane details like what time a PT physical training formation is taking place or where construction is on Fort Bragg can compromise OPSEC operational security,” said Neuschwanger.”It is important for all to understand that just because they can access these social networking sites, both at work and at home, does not give you permission to discuss operational and organizational information on them.”

We can’t prevent Soldiers, civilians and family members from using social media, and we can’t prevent every mistake. In fact, overall, the Army benefits from increased, authentic participation in the vast conversation of the Web.

But we can never forget the bad guys, and I don’t think, as public affairs pros, we can leave the OPSEC training to once-a-year encounter sessions with the information security officers. We’ve been trying to uncork the bottle for years. We need to share some responsibility in teaching our people how to tame the genie.

So this kind of article should stand next to the articles encouraging commanders to let their subordinates blog and tweet. The tone might be off-putting, but some readers who might ignore our more gentle reminders could be “scared straight” by this approach – if they aren’t scared completely out of the blogosphere.

Read Social networking puts operational security, Soldiers lives at risk.