Navy & The New Media

The vague term ‘New Media’ popularly refers to the recent phenomena of amateur, semi-professional, and professional online journalists (often called bloggers). While I am a researcher and not a journalist in any form, my site War & Health uses blogging software, and it were my writings on War & Health that got me invited by the Department of Defense (DoD) to deploy with the USS Kearsarge.

As a researcher, one of my reasons for embarking was to get some understanding on how the Navy is engaging the New Media. After a week onboard I think I am able to make a few pedestrian observations.

First, the Navy is eager to engage the New Media. For the USS Kearsarge deployment, it was the Navy and not the New Media that first proposed inviting online journalists onboard. While onboard, the online journalists have had almost complete access to the ship and its crew. I have run across only two locations on the ship inaccessible to the online journalists. Everywhere else, from the bridge to engineering are open to journalists without restrictions on photography or reporting (besides OPSEC). As an anecdotal example, David Axe, online reporter for Wired.com, met the Commanding Officer of the Marine CH-53E squadron onboard and within a couple days David and myself were given a complete tour of the helicopter’s avionics on the flight deck during nighttime flight operations.

Second, there has been zero censorship of the New Media onboard. The online journalists on the Kearsarge are the responsibility of the Public Affairs Office (PAO). Nobody in the PAO or rest of the Navy clears the photographs or articles published by the online journalists. Throughout the deployment, the PAO has been commendably accommodating. The role of the PAO so far could best be described as “fixers”, arranging interviews and giving directions and tours when requested by New Media journalists.

Third, the Navy is still learning how to engage the New Media. This deployment represents the first time the New Media has been invited to report during a Navy operation and there were some major issues that came up, primarily internet access. The online journalists do not have the DoD login required to use the ship’s computers and cannot connect their own computers to the ship’s network. Thus, for the first couple days, the only way for the New Media to file stories was to ask servicemen to borrow their unclassified terminals for a few minutes. This point was the major frustration for the New Media since, by definition, they require sustained internet access. Personally, in the first two days the only thing I was able to accomplish online was an email to my wife (luckily research is less time sensitive than journalism).

However, the Navy has been quick to identify the problems of the New Media onboard and placed significant resources (and a great IT staff working almost around the clock) into resolving them. Regarding internet access, by the fifth day an “NGO Café” was opened in two rooms off the gym, complete with laptop computers and unrestricted internet access (something even the officers and crew do not enjoy). Since opening, everyone from the Commodore on down has stopped by the NGO Café to make sure the New Media is happy with the Café.

Did the Navy drop the ball at times? Absolutely. I have a laundry list of errors and problems in my notes. But, problems are bound to crop up when trying something new and the Navy’s New Media experiment is not (and should not be considered) exceptional. But throughout the seven days I have been onboard, the Navy has shown an impressive eagerness and willingness to engage the New Media, time and again bending rules to cater to the needs of the online journalists onboard.

Tagged as: Navy, New Media, USS Kearsarge