With public outcry mounting over rising costs of war in Iraq and American deaths almost daily since the end of major combat operations, public relations for the Bush administration are in overdrive.
Don Meyer, public affairs special assistant for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, addressed this challenge when he spoke to the UW-Madison Public Relations Student Society of America Wednesday, saying good news often goes unreported.
Meyer, a 1992 graduate of UW-Madison's School of Journalism and veteran reporter of several small Wisconsin newspapers, gave students interested in public relations an idea of life in governmental public relations during the current political climate. He said updated television technology since the first war in Iraq has brought new challenges to the administration's public relations department.
\It's not just the Gulf War where you have this young burgeoning cable industry,"" he said. ""[Instead] there's this constant drumbeat of 24-hour cable news, so if something happens in Kabul overnight, it's in the news immediately.""
Such thorough coverage has led to public criticism of the administration's tactics in Iraq. Many Americans protested the release of pictures of Saddam Hussein's dead sons, and now in light of mounting U.S. casualties, public support for military actions in Iraq has steadily eroded. In response, Meyer said public relations officials must accept the prevalence of bad news over good news in the media.
""News here about a soldier being killed every day ... is more newsworthy than what hospital had a new roof put on, on any given day,"" he said.
Handling public relations for Rumsfeld, however, is much easier than explaining the downfalls of the war, according to Meyer.
""Secretary Rumsfeld is one of those people who's a PR practitioner's dream because he doesn't need a lot of preparation,"" Meyer said. ""He's a [secretary] who's comfortable with the press, who's going to be as open as possible, which makes it very easy for people who work for him.""
Meyer said Rumsfeld can give a clear, honest picture to the media because he is actively involved in setting policy. When asked if Rumsfeld's straightforward style has proven harmful for public relations-for example, when explaining rising costs for the war or underestimations of the number of troops needed in Iraq-he responded in the negative.
""There's more credibility that comes with information on defense policy from the top person on the job,"" Meyer said. ""Who are you going to pay attention to more, me or the secretary of defense?\
