CONSUMER  MAGAZINES Consumer  magazines  appeal  to  various  special interests of the public. Technology, business, sports, hobbies, theater, gossip and humor are among the major subjects reported. These provide an opportunity to tell a story in greater detail or from a particular point of view. Stories need not be as timely as in a news magazine. INTERNAL OR PROMOTIONAL PUBLICATIONS Internal  or  promotional  publications  reach  the internal  and  external  audiences  of  companies,  agencies, professions or vocations. They are also called trade journals and house organs.  Public  Affairs  Communica- tor is an example of a trade journal. BOOKS Many PAOs and senior journalists are asked to assist  authors  of  books  dealing  with  military  subjects. More  than  30,000  books  are  published  in  this  country annually. Because of the continuing importance of the Navy and the armed services as a whole to our society, authors of virtually all classes of books (nonfiction, adult,  juvenile,  general,  text  and  pictorial)  rely  on  the public affairs office for help in gathering material. You  may  assist  book  authors  by  making  available unclassified research or background materials. Contact CHINFO when an author’s request involves more than locally  available  materials. MEDIA  ACTIONS Learning Objective:  Identify the various types of media actions  that  lead  to  distorted  messages. Pure media consumers do not have a difficult time understanding the news media. However, when a media consumer  is  faced  with  actually  using  news  media channels,  that  person  must  have  a  more  detailed awareness of how the media operates. The following is a list of the general news media “sins” that lead to distorted messages: 1. Short deadlines. Reporters  are  always  under tight deadlines, which means you must be prepared to react, on short notice, if it is in the best interest of the command. 2. Time or space limitations.  Print,  radio  and television  have  very  small  spaces  (such  as  a  paragraph) and short periods (such as a minute, 30 seconds) to tell your  story. 3. Inexperienced reporters. Most  reporters  do not know the difference between a rear admiral and a chief petty officer. Military reporters relate to the word Tomahawk  as an American Indian weapon, not a U.S. Navy  cruise  missile.  Translate  military  terminology  into civilian  terms,  if  possible.  Educating  the  reporter  before an  interview  helps. 4. Nonattributed news.  Be  careful  when  using sources  without  clearly  identifing  them,  such  as  “a naval officer said. . . .” Establish  interview  ground  rules before  the  interview  and  how  you  will  respond  to unknown  sources  or  critics.  Ground  rules  will  be discussed later in this chapter. 5. Editor negligence.  Information  suspected  of being wrong or misleading is not always checked out by senior  editors.  The  PAO  should  always  challenge  data or facts that he believes to be wrong and go directly to the reporter’s boss if necessary. 6. Competition. Too often, a sloppy job is done by news reporters because of news media competing to get the news first. However, competition can be positive. For example, editors and news directors know that if reporters are abusive to sources, access will eventually become more difficult and the competition will have an edge. 7. Prize journalism. Some reporters are looking for  the  big  story  of  waste,  fraud  and  abuse  to  win professional acclaim and praise. 8. Mob   journalism.   In  a  crisis,  many  news reporters  arrive  on-scene  and  demand  access  to  crisis events and interviews. You must be cool and stay in control if this situation occurs. 9. Pack  (trend)  journalism.   Once  a  single exclusive story hits the wire services, a whole pack of stories on the same subject appears. For instance, if the Navy experiences a series of aircraft accidents over a short period, the media pack will focus its stories on naval aviation safety and training. 10. Checkbook journalism. News media “buy” a story  or  source.  For  example,  a  television  station  may pay air fare, meals and lodging to bring a family (next of kin) to the crisis. 11. Hitchhiker journalism.  Areporter,  who  thinks something important has or is about to happen (at a base or ship), stations himself outside the gate and picks up 4-5