escapeartist
Contributor
You are making me laugh R!!
A reporter's perspective
- Thread starter BladesRobinson
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We do not let media shawdow a call either, for the same reasons as Gary stated. But we do not treat them like the enemy either. They have a job to do, just like the rest of us. I remember on one call out after doing a briefing the divers and tenders were getting the gear ready and I had a few minutes after the site paperwork was done so I wandered over to where the media was and answered a few questions for them as best I could.
To make a short story long...., the operation went a little sideways which ended up with beaching the boat and trying to get three fully suited divers out of a surf zone up a rocky beach with waves crashing over them/us. All caught on the TV cameras. I actually jokingly told the reporters "You can't put this on TV, my wife will never let me dive again" followed by a call to the big cheese with the comment "I don't know what you are going see on the 6 O'clock news, but it wasn't as bad as it looked."
Needless to say, the reporters mentioned on their news cast that the team had some difficulties caused by the extreme conditions we were working in, but no footage. They held back the footage because we had treated them well the day before.
They have the power to make us look bad if we let them.., just don't give them a reason to
To make a short story long...., the operation went a little sideways which ended up with beaching the boat and trying to get three fully suited divers out of a surf zone up a rocky beach with waves crashing over them/us. All caught on the TV cameras. I actually jokingly told the reporters "You can't put this on TV, my wife will never let me dive again" followed by a call to the big cheese with the comment "I don't know what you are going see on the 6 O'clock news, but it wasn't as bad as it looked."
Needless to say, the reporters mentioned on their news cast that the team had some difficulties caused by the extreme conditions we were working in, but no footage. They held back the footage because we had treated them well the day before.
They have the power to make us look bad if we let them.., just don't give them a reason to
vablackwater
Contributor
We were involved in a recovery around 2 years ago where a member from the media was taking/ trying to take some very inappropriate pictures that deeply upset the family of the victim. LE support was present to address the immediate issue with the media on scene, but we scratched our heads to think of something we could do as more "preventative maintenance" and a proactive approach to media relations.
We ended up sending an invitation to local reporters to do a "discover scuba" with us. We have PSD instructors who can also teach PADI, and we were able to put a few of us in the water with them to give them a good understanding of what we try to accomplish from the PSD perspective. Through side bar conversations, we were able to relay the point of what a family endures during a recovery operation, as well as how we evaluate risk and make that a part of our ops.
We followed up the discover scuba with an invitation to join us in one of our trainings, which they also filmed and participated in.
We are thinking of making the same offer come the spring time, our area has a relatively high churn rate for reporters. In addition to supporting the victim families and developing a good relationship with the media, we had some good positive press time.
I have a copy of the video from the news report that followed the discovery scuba/ training, if a PSD wants to see it feel free to shoot me an email.
John
We ended up sending an invitation to local reporters to do a "discover scuba" with us. We have PSD instructors who can also teach PADI, and we were able to put a few of us in the water with them to give them a good understanding of what we try to accomplish from the PSD perspective. Through side bar conversations, we were able to relay the point of what a family endures during a recovery operation, as well as how we evaluate risk and make that a part of our ops.
We followed up the discover scuba with an invitation to join us in one of our trainings, which they also filmed and participated in.
We are thinking of making the same offer come the spring time, our area has a relatively high churn rate for reporters. In addition to supporting the victim families and developing a good relationship with the media, we had some good positive press time.
I have a copy of the video from the news report that followed the discovery scuba/ training, if a PSD wants to see it feel free to shoot me an email.
John
OP
John,
Our department did something similar years ago and we were fortunate that the reporter that covered our department was already a certified diver. We invited him to a training session and ended up placing him in a full face mask with underwater comms, then had him conduct a simulated search pattern in pretty dark water. He was a good diver but quickly realized the challenges we faced.
The article he wrote about our training session was excellent and we had terrific press for years. We had a good understanding of what he needed to do his job and he understood what we needed.
After that reporter moved on to a different beat we buddied up with his replacement (a non-diver). We took the guy out on our boat during a training exercise and invited him to other dive training operations. When the team was planning a recovery operation, we would give him a call and let him know what was going on as long as the operations were not LE sensitive in nature. There were times when we would put him in a PFD and alow him to "cross the line" if the incident was not LE sensitive. He understood that there were times when we could talk and times when we couldn't. The bottom line is we had a good relationship and excellent press.
Because of good press, we also good a pretty good budget and had the support of our chief officers. My last year as FTO on the dive team I had a budget in excess of $260,000. We had a DRI trained PSSI/DRIT on each shift and each diver at the marine rescue station was assigned his own Viking dry suit. All thirty members of the team were given their personal set of mask, fins, snorkel, weight belt, a cutting tool, a full wet suit, an U/W light, booties, gloves, chest harness, sun screen and gear bag. Our "team equipment" (shared) consisted of six SCUBA units with Interspiro full face masks, OTS comms (both hard wired and wireless), Sea Quest Black Diamond BCs, Aqua Lung regulators, Suunto Cobras, Fishers Pulse 8x metal detectors with various sized heads, additional Viking dry suits, search lines, etc. In my last year we also replaced our 25' Boston Whaler with a 27' Boston Whaler running twin 250HP Yamaha engines and we replaced our 4 meter rigid hulled inflatable boat.
I credit the fact that we worked well with our local press, had successful missions, had good equipment and (most importantly) a well trained team consisting 33 great guys. If our press had been poor I don't think things would have been as good.
Our department did something similar years ago and we were fortunate that the reporter that covered our department was already a certified diver. We invited him to a training session and ended up placing him in a full face mask with underwater comms, then had him conduct a simulated search pattern in pretty dark water. He was a good diver but quickly realized the challenges we faced.
The article he wrote about our training session was excellent and we had terrific press for years. We had a good understanding of what he needed to do his job and he understood what we needed.
After that reporter moved on to a different beat we buddied up with his replacement (a non-diver). We took the guy out on our boat during a training exercise and invited him to other dive training operations. When the team was planning a recovery operation, we would give him a call and let him know what was going on as long as the operations were not LE sensitive in nature. There were times when we would put him in a PFD and alow him to "cross the line" if the incident was not LE sensitive. He understood that there were times when we could talk and times when we couldn't. The bottom line is we had a good relationship and excellent press.
Because of good press, we also good a pretty good budget and had the support of our chief officers. My last year as FTO on the dive team I had a budget in excess of $260,000. We had a DRI trained PSSI/DRIT on each shift and each diver at the marine rescue station was assigned his own Viking dry suit. All thirty members of the team were given their personal set of mask, fins, snorkel, weight belt, a cutting tool, a full wet suit, an U/W light, booties, gloves, chest harness, sun screen and gear bag. Our "team equipment" (shared) consisted of six SCUBA units with Interspiro full face masks, OTS comms (both hard wired and wireless), Sea Quest Black Diamond BCs, Aqua Lung regulators, Suunto Cobras, Fishers Pulse 8x metal detectors with various sized heads, additional Viking dry suits, search lines, etc. In my last year we also replaced our 25' Boston Whaler with a 27' Boston Whaler running twin 250HP Yamaha engines and we replaced our 4 meter rigid hulled inflatable boat.
I credit the fact that we worked well with our local press, had successful missions, had good equipment and (most importantly) a well trained team consisting 33 great guys. If our press had been poor I don't think things would have been as good.
Yotsie
Contributor
I'll Chime in on this since I was the Incident Commander of the team on this incident.
One thing the reporter doesn't mention is this was a very violent traffic collision in which the two vehicles involved entered the water. One vehicle was a semi tractor converted into a septic truck.
The media was informed and kept in the loop. A member of my team was made available to them to answer questions as were our PIO and CHP's PIO. The media added the spin you see above. Many of the television media stations have since done follow-up stories and have admitted on air, they jumped to conclusions before the facts were made available to them.
Short story is we are a RECOVERY team. We would not have been called if there was a chance of a rescue.
My team came home safe at the end of a very long day.
I can not comment any further than that at this time.
One thing the reporter doesn't mention is this was a very violent traffic collision in which the two vehicles involved entered the water. One vehicle was a semi tractor converted into a septic truck.
The media was informed and kept in the loop. A member of my team was made available to them to answer questions as were our PIO and CHP's PIO. The media added the spin you see above. Many of the television media stations have since done follow-up stories and have admitted on air, they jumped to conclusions before the facts were made available to them.
Short story is we are a RECOVERY team. We would not have been called if there was a chance of a rescue.
My team came home safe at the end of a very long day.
I can not comment any further than that at this time.
OP
Thanks for sharing a few details about the previously mentioned incident. Please know that the reason for posting the story was not to criticize the team! I posted it because it is an example of perceptions that reporters or citizens can have if they don't know the facts. In your case, it is apparent that you did everything right and the reporter still got it wrong.
Hopefully some forum readers can benefit from the discussion and understand the benefits of working with the press.
I am sorry that the reporter that wrote this article got it wrong and hope there are opportunities to set him straight in the future. I look forward to learning more from you about the incident and hope we can all learn if you ever make this reporter a fan of your dive team. Good luck!
Yotsie
Contributor
Not a problem. This was a incident in which I learned a great deal about public perception vs. reality. I look forward to and have every intention on posting a detailed report on the incident.
novicediver
Contributor
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Sounds like a mess of a dive. Several fatalities coupled with a sewage truck and less than ideal conditions for diving.
Pearldiver07
Contributor
C'mon you two - get a (chat) room!
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