GROUP FIVE HQ The Group Five “NEWS PAGE” has been created as part of
the Public Affairs Plan approved by Commander Gleockler
this past April. The plan establishes strategic goals
and short-term objectives necessary to support the
Public Affairs mission “to inform internal and external
audiences of Civil Air Patrol’s national importance,
safeguard the image and assets of the corporation, and
strengthen relations with key audiences which will
enable the organization to grow.”
The plan was developed based on an analysis of the
group’s current resources available to meet CAPNHQ and
Florida Wing Public Affairs objectives. The analysis was
conducted by Group Five Public Affairs Officer, Captain Jeff
Carlson, and included a survey of each of the unit’s
public affairs program.
“Training is by far the primary need. All
members, not just for those assigned to a Public Affairs
duty position, need to understand they play an important
role” Carlson says, “There is this idea that getting the
message out is some other guy's job, nothing could be
further from the truth. It is true that we have people
who are assigned as official spokespersons and make
certain the published message is crafted properly, but
individual members can play an key role in
generating the message content by identifying newsworthy activities,
gathering facts and names, and taking a picture or two.
We are trained to gather data and report back our
findings. We do a great job of this for other clients,
but fall short on our own internal reconnaissance mission”.
Other areas of the Public Affairs plan focus on
strengthening strategic partnerships, working with the
media, and developing greater competence using
electronic communication channels such as internet
communication tools and generating multi-media content.
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