Working with the Media

So the other day I was approached by a person that asked – ‘how do you deal with the media all of the time?” I found it a bit interesting with their word choice of ‘deal with’ and thought that is such an adversarial definition and I guess there has been some strife in the law enforcement world in the past five years or so that gets reported through the media. I like to think that it is more of a ‘work with’ relationship that we have and something that all law enforcement should strive for.

So how do we work with the media? Invariably law enforcement is going to be in front of the cameras often given the very public nature of this occupation. Every community is going to have crime, accidents, natural disasters and so forth that are going to draw law enforcement’s involvement and the media’s attention.  

After ten years in a media relations role I have learned a few things along the way. We have turned into a 24/7 society and the days of waiting for the news from the paper or newscast are long gone. Those that are tasked with media relations need to be available and willing to communicate at all hours of the day. I have always tried to be accessible, providing my cell phone number and answering calls, texts and emails rather quickly which helps the reporter and ultimately works to get accurate info to the public. 

There are also some other things that I have learned and wanted to provide some insight on.

Press Releases

Law enforcement will send out press releases regarding significant incidents that occur in their community.  When putting together a press release, granted there are certain aspects of the case and investigation that cannot be released to preserve the integrity of the case however at the same time we should provide information to answer those questions and alleviate any concerns or fears in the community.

I like to look at the press release from a layman’s or general citizen’s point of view and ask myself ‘is everything answered’.   If you can read the release and not have any questions or areas of unknown info – without an explanation – you should be alright. I like to have a goal of providing info to the media and stumping them with no further questions asked by them! If that occurs - then I know the press release covered all bases. I also stay away from using police jargon or talking like an officer...use regular language and sound a little more human – it’ll help.

The other area with releasing information is providing the name of those involved. It is pretty generally accepted that the names of victims do not get released and when it comes to deceased persons, those names are released after notification of family and in conjunction with the coroner and/or medical examiner.  Suspects or those arrested are another thing. My personal thought is not to release a person’s name unless they are formally charged in court. Reason being is that there are times that law enforcement may arrest someone but the prosecutor chooses not to charge the person. By releasing the name and no charges ever filed could ‘sully’ a person’s name and reputation. So instead, we will release their age, sex and city of residence. Once that person is formally charged in court, the case becomes public and more information is released in the criminal complaint. I think the main thing that people are initially looking at is what happened or why there were so many fire trucks, police cars, etc. at a location – not necessarily who did it. 

Media at an Incident

Unfortunately in my career I have seen two officer involved shootings, an active shooter incident, and multiple incidents involving deceased persons from car accidents, suspicious deaths and homicides that have brought a response from multiple media outlets. I strive to work with setting up an immediate staging area for the media outlets that allows them a good view of the activity – maybe not the actual scene per se – but at least the opportunity to get some footage that can be used.  I have also learned that if we can locate the media in one certain spot, it makes it a bit easier for all of the public safety personnel and others onscene instead of having satellite trucks and media vehicles parked all over.

As with providing the info as to what is transpiring, especially in an active incident, can be a bit challenging given it’s propensity to change. Prefacing comments with that can help and just explaining the fact that this is what we know now and relying on those questions discussed earlier about looking at it from the general public’s point of view.

Summary

In the past ten years I like to think that my agency has had a good relationship with the media. As a result, we tend to get quite a few requests to provide insight on issues and since 2010 have done crime prevention reporting for a local morning television news show. This also helps when there are public relations events and prevention messages that we would like to get out, I have found that the media has been a great partner to be able to accomplish that.

So in end – it really isn’t dealing with the media….it is working with the media!