Public Affairs People Can Improve Transparency

The media's predictable objections notwithstanding, I don't see anything egregiously wrong with the new Department of Defense guidelines for interaction with the press, issued in the wake of the series of massive indiscretions on the part of General Stanley McChrystal and his staff that led to an extremely unflattering Rolling Stone article and the General's subsequent dismissal from his role at the U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Reporters expressed discomfort with Defense Secretary Robert Gates insistence that the Pentagon's public affairs unit be notified "prior to any interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications." At a press conference after Gates' memo was made public, reporters made the case that almost every story they worked on had "national or international implications" and suggested that the new guidelines contradicted the Obama administration's pledge to be more transparent than its predecessors.

There is no reason why the involvement of Defense Department public affairs professionals should mean less transparency. In fact, there is no reason it should not mean greater transparency. Talking to those who have experience working with the military, the general feeling seems to be that PR people are more often advocating for better communication. Of course, that advocacy stops short of the kind of colorful, entertaining indiscretion that McChrystal's staff engaged in, the kind of indiscretion that destroys careers and drives magazine sales.

But Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters: "The bottom line is if we do this properly you will hardly notice the impact." And Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, makes it clear that the military brass understands the importance of good media relations: ""We need to tell our story. It needs to be done well. It needs to be told smartly. We need to learn the right lessons, not the wrong ones."

The new policy--if it is implemented responsibly and with common sense--seems like an entirely reasonable response to a public relations faux pas.