The accidental PIO

Alright everyone, welcome back from the kickoff to the holiday season here in the United States - Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone was able to spend some quality time with their families, enjoy a little turkey and maybe even get a little holiday shopping done.  I think my greatest accomplishment this weekend was serving up this gorgeous smoked turkey from my grill.

A bird of exquisite beauty...

There's nothing quite like cooking a turkey on the grill outdoors in November when everyone else is shoveling snow...

Enough of rubbing it in with the weather. Today, I am pleased to announce that Melissa Agnes of Agnes + Day: The Crisis Intelligence Firm released the podcast we recorded a few weeks ago called The Accidental PIO.  Melissa is an excellent interviewer, and the hour plus of our conversation just flew by. We touched on several topics, including:

• Strategies to help you excuse-proof disaster planning
• How to reshape your message to make an impact and reach your audience in new ways
• Digital communication strategies for your PIO toolbox
• Tips for feeding the media to inspire them (and make their jobs easier) to help share your important messages and stories.  

Internationally-renowned crisis preparedness speaker Melissa Agnes is a whiz when it comes to media relations.

Give it a listen, and I hope that you find some of the information useful in your crisis preparedness efforts, and I look forward to working with her again in the future.


Download

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Coming to you live ...

So, this past week, I spent three days teaching other public information officers about the craft. It's a pretty common thing that I do, but the classes were anything but common, because of the developments that were happening in real time.

Early Thursday morning, Florida State University alumnus Myron May walked onto the school's campus, into the library and began shooting. He wounded three before being shot and killed by campus police. On that second day of our training, we would have normally had a few reporters in to be part of our media panel, where the students would have had the opportunity to ask questions of them.

The press briefing by Tallahassee Police Department Chief Michael Deleo

As you might imagine, with these developments made reporters were unavailable to come to the class. This was the first time since I started teaching that this happened, but it proved to be a valuable lesson for the class. At 3 p.m., the university held a press conference, which we tuned in to and watched as events unfolded, providing a valuable lesson in how media relations are conducted during a crisis and in front of a large, international audience.

On Friday, word also came down that the grand jury was nearing a decision in the Ferguson, Missouri case of the officer-involved shooting of Michael Brown. Given the unrest that took place immediately after the incident this past summer, the community is bracing again in anticipation of what could potentially take place after the decision is handed down.

Tensions are high near Ferguson, Missouri

As we watched the coverage of that on Friday - during the class training students about Joint Information Center operations - our major discussion was about what must be taking place in a Joint Information Center inside Ferguson, Missouri.

While it was a totally unorthodox method of instructing the class, these two incidents provided valuable insight into the operations of public information during times of crisis - quite the opportunity for our students to learn from.

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

The weekly read

Talking Ethics:  Competition vs. Consideration
Bill Mitchell
The Poynter Institute

May 19, 1998 was a dark day for the law enforcement community in west central Florida. Hank Earl Carr, a convicted felon, had shot and killed his girlfriend's four-year-old son, was arrested, managed to escape his handcuffs and killed two Tampa detectives and a state trooper, eventually barricading himself in a gas station with a hostage before succumbing to a possibly self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Hank Earl Carr arrested by Tampa Detectives Randy Bell (left) and Rick Childers (far right)

What made that event so memorable, however, was the way that certain members of the Tampa media inserted themselves into the narrative of the event, with a news radio station conducting a phone interview with the assailant during the stand off.

Mitchell's series on the actions of the reporters that day is an interesting discussion of the ethical decisions made that day and what journalists can learn from those events.

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Today, I teach

Today, tomorrow and Friday, I will be away from my office doing something I find very enjoyable - instructing FEMA's G290 Basic Public Information Officer and G291 Joint Information Center/Joint Information System training at our county's emergency operations center. This has to be - by far - one of the best parts of my job.

Wave 'hi' to the camera!

What makes it so much fun? Easy - each class is an opportunity for me to learn from the students who take the class.

I know that may seem counter-intuitive. After all, I'm one of the instructors, supposedly the one with the answers. And, the students are all brand new to the craft, eagerly seeking those answers, right?

That's not always the case. For instance, I can remember the time in 2010 when two of our students had come from Texas. I thought that odd, since we tend to draw only from the Sunshine State. It turns out that these two students were both from the U.S. Army, and had been stationed at Fort Hood during the shooting that killed 13 and wounded 33. The base commander had instructed these two public information officers to take the first class they could attend, and that led them to Clearwater.

The scene at Fort Hood, Texas

Believe me, the stories the two students shared with the class were a lesson that we all learned from.

There are students who come to us as full-time professional public information officers, and those who wear the PIO hat with several others. We have PIOs from large agencies with several colleagues, and those who serve several small agencies.

Some students have just moved to PIO duties after leaving long careers with the media, while others have only the barest experience in media relations. Believe me, there is much to learn from both ends of the spectrum.

I also learn a lot from my co-instructors. Through the years, I have been honored to teach with some of the best public information officers I have ever had the honor of meeting. Carl Fowler. Louis Fernandez. Bob Lasher. Holley Wade. And, her husband - and one of my most important mentors - Bill Wade.

Bill Wade working the scene of the 2000 Ybor City fire

It would not be an exaggeration to say that retired Tampa Fire Rescue Captain Bill Wade was critical in making me the PIO I am today. Bill is a legend when it comes to media relations here in the Tampa Bay area. If there was a big event here in the region, you knew for sure Bill was going to be there. From Super Bowls to the massive 2000 Ybor City Fire, Bill was there, cooly answering questions and working with reporters to get the story out to help residents make the right decisions to protect themselves and their families.

Sure, it will be a few tough days of teaching, but I wouldn't trade a second of it. This is where I learn as much as the students I teach.

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

Show, don't tell

People really do want to make the proper preparations when it comes to potential disasters. Seriously. No one envisions being left without power, a method of communicating or something as basic as food after a disaster visits. "Boy, I hope my smoke detector batteries don't work when a fire breaks out!" is something I doubt you will ever hear as a disaster preparedness spokesperson.

The problem is that for many people, they mean well, but they may not be aware of how to actually do the task you need them to do. Again, it's not that people are ignorant, they just don't have disaster preparedness in the fore of their minds as many of us do, and they may not have the know-how to take the proper steps. Or, even worse, they may have heard the 'old wisdom' of doing things a certain way, but don't understand how worthless - or even dangerous - these incorrect methods can be.

Taping windows before a hurricane arrives

Let's talk for a moment about something we see here in hurricane country - taping windows.  Study after study has shown that taping windows is a totally worthless step in preparing for a hurricane's impact. There isn't even any consensus of how taping windows even works. I have heard all sorts of reasons why taping is supposed to be effective - it hold the glass together if debris blows into the window. It cushions the impact on the glass. It strengthens the glass, making it less likely to break.

Despite all of the times we have explained to people why taping their windows is just a myth, we still see tape going up when  hurricane threatens.

What we needed was a way to demonstrate once and for all why taping windows was such a bad idea. Fortunately for us, we have a local high school whose mascot name is the Hurricanes - Clearwater High School. In Florida, students can also qualify for scholarship dollars through the Bright Future program if they perform a number of volunteer hours. With a little bit of thinking, a few phone calls and some imagination, we came up with the Tape Strikes Out video, one of our most popular on the YouTube channel.

By using a bit of humor, a few video cameras and an explanation of why taping is ineffective, we were able to show with no question why shuttering windows with plywood is far superior to taping them.

While our efforts were just a small drop in the bucket, the idea was picked up by other organizations, namely the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. Their Go Tapeless campaign of a few years ago built on the momentum we had started in our county, pushing the message nationwide.

FLASH invites you to Go Tapeless

This is just one example of how addressing a myth head-on can hopefully change behaviors to encourage residents to take appropriate, meaningful steps to improve their safety. This template can work with just about any other public safety education campaign, and is a perfect way to invite others to the table to partner together.

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

The weekly read

Three Mile Island: A Nuclear Crisis in Historical Perspective
By J. Samuel Walker
ISBN-13: 978-0520239401

In the spring of 1979, a movie opened in theaters across the country. It featured the story of a near disaster at a nuclear power plant which had the potential to kill thousands if the core’s containment system failed. The movie was The China Syndrome, and it proved to be an eerie premonition of a very similar accident just 12 days later outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The incident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant began with a simple stuck valve, later escalating due to confusing warning systems and incomplete staff training. While a portion of the core did melt, the worst case scenario – a breaching of the redundant containment system – didn’t happen. The lack of clear lines of command, however, led to near-panic as residents in the Mid-Atlantic wondered what to do. This event - and the confusion caused by the tangled chain of command and communication - was one of the first challenges to face the newly-formed agency known as FEMA. 

Walker’s book drills into great detail about the causes of the accident, the response by local, state and national officials and how Three Mile Island changed the course of nuclear energy.

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino

When you can't see the threat

In Florida, we are very fortunate when it comes to our disasters. Ever since the first global weather satellite coverage in 1975, it has been virtually impossible for a hurricane to sneak up on our coast, visiting terrible destruction upon our residents.

The first ever GOES satellite image taken in October, 1975

For other parts of the world, the threats come with less warning, but plenty of notice. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma can forecast when conditions are right for tornado formation. Geologists at the USGS can state with certainty where fault lines lie, alerting residents to the threat posed by earthquakes. And, when it comes to hazardous materials transported by truck or rail car, people who live near those potential hazardous materials spills can see and understand the threat that faces them.

Epidemiologists study the spread of infectious diseases

But, what about threats that are so small, they can't be seen with the naked eye?  Those threats sure are out there, and they have the potential to cause panic when they are introduced to a population. Those threats are the many illnesses which can become epidemic - or even worse - pandemic.

Is there reason to be concerned about diseases even in the 21st century? You bet. Believe it or not, arguably the deadliest pandemic in human history happened just shy of a century ago. At the end of World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic spread like wildfire, infecting nearly half a billion people and killing between 50 and 100 million.

Soldiers near Fort Riley, Kansas, ill with the flu

As we saw during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and recently with Ebola, illnesses still have a unique ability to cause outright panic in residents. After all, if you can see something as damaging as a hurricane, you can do things to get out of its way and reduce its impact on you and your property. If you can't see the microbes causing the illness, people tend to become deeply concerned about their safety and well being.

Many of us are not public health PIOs - we may be working for the local fire or law enforcement agency. Maybe the local county, city or school board. Maybe the transit authority or a hospital. So, we may not be the lead agency when it comes to handling things such as pandemic infections.

But, that doesn't mean we get a free pass. The people we work with are counting on us to give accurate, timely information - and repeat that information as many times as necessary - to ensure they know the right steps to take to keep themselves and their families safe.

Information on steps to prevent the spread of illness - such as obtaining flu shots - can be beneficial

In an event like this, building a joint information system is critical. Basically, a joint information system is taking the time to get to know your colleagues in different organizations who serve the community you do. If you are a city PIO, get to know the PIOs in the surrounding cities, your county, even your state. Get in touch with the power company spokespeople, the school board and the public information team at the local hospitals. Cast your net wide, and understand how effectively each of these team members can reach out to their constituency.

Most importantly, be sure to keep each other in the loop. That should be a given for any type of disaster, but even more so when it comes to something unseen like an illness. By doing this, you can keep up on the latest information and also forward the rumors you are hearing to the people who have the right answers.

Just like a virus, bad information and rumor are contagious. The best inoculation is good, actionable information.

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino