The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) announces the release of the second of three new courses for Public Information Officers.

These courses were developed in partnership with the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and the National Information Officer Association (NIOA)

Rationale:
Emergency PIOs are responsible for ensuring that the affected public receives accurate and timely information during an emergency. Armed with good information, people are better able to make good decisions and, by doing so, contribute to the overall response goal of saving lives and protecting property.

Some PIOs tasked with planning for, developing, and disseminating emergency public information at the State, tribal, and local levels bear this considerable responsibility concurrently with other job assignments. Others may have had limited prior experience or training in public information techniques. These PIOs, especially, must be provided with the opportunity to learn and practice the skills they will use on the job.

The Basic Public Information Officer Course (G290) is designed to prepare participants to function as full- or part-time PIOs. Additionally, this training is a prerequisite and foundation for more advanced training that takes participants from the awareness level to the mastery level in their public information careers.

Course Goal:
This training will equip participants with the basic skills needed to be full- or part-time PIOs such as oral and written communications, and understanding and working with the media, and basic tools and techniques needed to perform effectively.

Target Audience:
The primary audience for this training is individuals who have public information responsibilities as their main job or as an auxiliary function at the state, tribal, or local level of government.

Course Objectives:
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate how to communicate emergency public information effectively in writing to the public through the news media.
• Describe actions the PIO can take to prepare for and conduct an effective interview with the news media.
• Demonstrate the ability to answer questions effectively during an on-camera interview.
• Describe how to effectively perform the responsibilities of the PIO at the scene of an incident.
• Describe the JIS/JIC concepts as they apply to the public information function in an expanding incident.
• Participate in a panel discussion with members of the news media.

Course Strategy:
The 2-day Basic Public Information Officer Course will use interactive presentation to convey information and engage the participants in learning.

This course will be delivered at the State level by State and local instructors.

• Describe written products for communicating through the news media before, during, and after an incident or disaster.
• Describe the implications of new media on public information.
• Describe characteristics used to judge whether an event is newsworthy.
• Given information, edit a news release using accepted journalistic style.
• Describe techniques for getting approval/clearance for, disseminating, and following up on news releases.

• Identify elements of an interview the PIO should consider ahead of time.
• Identify steps a PIO needs to take to prepare for and conduct a news interview.
• Given a scenario, develop key messages for a news interview.
• In a knowledge check, list media-specific considerations for interviews.

• Describe what types of impressions specific body language might convey during an interview.
• Convey information and answer questions effectively in front of the camera.
• Demonstrate effective techniques for on-camera interviews.
• Write a news release in journalistic style

• Describe the importance of establishing coordinated media relations at the scene of an incident.
• Describe the applicable State law regarding scene access by the news media.
• List on-scene media and PIO needs.
• Describe the basic considerations of setting up a media staging area.
• Describe when and how to establish a media pool.
• Outline when, where, why, and how a briefing should be conducted at the scene.

• Describe Joint Information System (JIS) and Joint Information Center (JIC) concepts.
• Describe the preparedness activities for establishing and maintaining a JIS.
• Identify the triggers for activation of a JIC.
• Describe how PIO functions are conducted under the scalable JIS approach to public information.

• Describe the goals of the news media as they relate to emergency management.
• Describe the impact of technology on today’s news environment.
• List actions PIOs can take to work with the news media to ensure that emergency public information gets to the right people at the right time.

EMI Point of Contact:
For more information on this course, contact your FEMA Regional Training Officer or the EMI Course Manager, Phil Politano: (301)447-1343 philip.politano@dhs.gov