HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE 

 THE NEWS MEDIA 



Lt. Ben Eason 



Public Information Officer, Pollution Response 



U.S. Coast Guard 



Washington, D.C. 



The group that I represent, the Public Information Assist Team, was 

 formed approximately 2 years ago. After 9 years the U.S. Coast Guard decided 

 to operate its public information program from the scene of a pollution inci- 

 dent. Up-to-date, accurate information only can be disseminated to all media 

 and the public from the scene of the incident. A public information 

 specialist needs to be on the scene to talk with the agency representatives. 

 Everyone who has worked on a spill knows that if the spill is of any size, 

 things get a little hectic in the beginning. You do not know exactly what 

 needs to be done in order to correct the situation. The On-Scene Coordinators 

 (OSC's) do not have much time to devote to public information. That is why 

 the U.S. Coast Guard tries to promote bringing a public information expert to 

 the scene of the incident immediately, if it appears that the incident is 

 going to be of major size. 



My three-person team has responded to at least 10 different incidents. 

 Overall, I am personally out of the office at least half that time. This is 

 because an effective information program in the field can accomplish a great 

 deal, both for that individual incident and for the overall national pollution 

 response program. 



Many people in pollution response work have developed negative feelings 

 about media presence or media interests at the scene of an environmental 

 emergency. They look at the media presence and its interest as a disadvan- 

 tage. Dealing with the media requires time and puts response personnel under 

 a great deal of pressure. However, although it may be a bit inconvenient for 

 the OSC or for the people on the scene to deal with the media, a lot of 

 benefit can be derived when working very closely with the press. 



An incident recently happened in Louisville, Kentucky known as the 

 "Valley of the Drums." We were there for 2.5 weeks when the U.S. Environ- 

 mental Protection Agency (EPA) responded to clean up that area. We had in- 

 tense media interest, both national, and local. Front page daily news stories 

 ran in the Courier Journal, television crews from every local television 

 station were on the scene, plus national media coverage was there. Although 

 it was difficult talking to these news people and explaining to them exactly 



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