Dealing with the Media: A Short Course for Rural First Responders

Institution: Iowa Central Community College’s Homeland Security Training Center Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC)

Course Description: Designed to provide rural first responders with the skills and knowledge to adopt the role of the public information officer (PIO) and communicate with the public through the media

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Course Objectives:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the need for PIO’s to establish and nurture good working relationships with their area media representatives
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how the media decides what’s newworthy
3. Identify and use the five W’s, plus One, in writing news releases
4. Provide examples of development and use of a core message
5. Demonstrate techniques for conducting media interviews at the scene of emergencies
6. Demonstrate an understanding of what the public wants, and needs, to hear from leaders during an emergency
7. Demonstrate knowledge of how to balance the needs of the media with those of first responders at the scene of an emergency
8. Demonstrate knowledge of how to choose a staging area at the scene of an emergency

Target Audience: Rural first responders

Course Format: Classroom instruction

Time Requirement: Approximately 6-hours (can be taught in one 6-hour day, or in two 3-hour segments)

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