[icernet] Army public affairs gets it right this time

[Arul Selvan]

The current war has been called the best-covered war in history, and 
certainly the visuals and reports from 
embedded
 reporters have been 
spectacular, bringing war into our living rooms like never before. 
Whatever we might think about the causes of this war (or the Bush 
administrations bumbling efforts to present them to the press*), this 
is a brilliant strategy and could well change the face of PR forever. 
Certainly it is as significant a development as the introduction of VNRs 
was 20 years ago.

After less than desirable coverage during Desert Storm and disastrous 
coverage of Mogadishu, the Department of Defense learned from its 
mistakes: 
No comment
 is the wrong answer. So, starting with the war in 
Afghanistan, the army began opening its kimono more and more to the media.

(Not one of 423 international PR professionals surveyed recently 
believed that the Bush administrations Iraq crisis PR efforts were 
credible. Four percent of those polled said the Iraqi PR campaign was 
trustworthy. Respondents were less skeptical of the UN, with 32 percent 
agreeing that UN PR has been credible. Source: PRWeek UK)

Source:
http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/issues/303/eng/painemilitary303.asp