STRATEGIC MILITARY NEWS MANAGEMENT POLICY – PERSONAL EXPERIENCES FROM DIFFERENT WARS
The role of mass media in Western democracies is crucial for public opinion, which is used in the elections to support or reject military actions proposed by the govern- ment. Because of the public and political nature of military operations, it has become essential for military commanders to make effective operational use of the mass media in order to achieve their objectives. The operational commander and his staff must have a sufficient focused guidance to permit them to integrate media manage- ment into operational plans. Author as a war correspondent presents his experiences from different wars, mistakes and best practices from different armies. According to his personal experience, the most elaborate and developed public relations concept is the U.S. “Embedded Media Program” which proved successful from the perspective of the military as well as the media. Vloga množičnih medijev v zahodnih demokracijah je ključnega pomena za obliko- vanje javnega mnenja, ki se uporablja na volitvah za podporo ali zavrnitev vojaških ukrepov, ki jih predlaga vlada. Zaradi javne in politične narave vojaških operacij je postalo nujno, da vojaški poveljniki množične medije učinkovito vključijo v opera- tivno delovanje in tako dosežejo svoje cilje. Operativni poveljnik in njegovo osebje morajo imeti dovolj natančne smernice za vključitev upravljanja medijev v opera- tivne načrte. Avtor kot vojni dopisnik predstavlja svoje izkušnje iz različnih vojn ter napake in primere dobre prakse iz različnih vojsk. Glede na njegove osebne izkušnje je najbolje razvit in izpiljen koncept odnosov z javnostmi program gostujočih medijev iz ZDA, ki se je izkazal kot uspešen tako z vidika vojske kot medijev.