Defence Media Operations Centre

This article is part of the Propaganda Portal project of Spinwatch.

The Defence Media Operations Centre (DMOC) is the UK military's centre for all media training.

As a result of lessons from recent operations, in particular Operation TELIC (the 2003 invasion of Iraq), the DMOC was established to provide the Tri-service hub for Media Operations training, education and operational capability.

With a balance of 47 Staff from the RN, ARMY, RAF and the Civil Service, the DMOC reports to the Director General Media and Communications (DGMC) at the Ministry of Defence and is in all respects a Tri-service asset

Although previously situated at 2 different locations the DMOC has recently moved to its new home at RAF Halton. Consolidating from two previous sites at RAF Uxbridge and DSL Beaconsfield. It is easily accessible by train to Wendover from Marylebone or by road along the A41 and A413, both close to the M1 and M40.

Background

The DMOC gives this acount of its role:

As a result of lessons from recent operations, in particular Operation TELIC, the DMOC was established to provide the Tri-service hub for Media Operations training, education and operational capability.

At the centre of this new concept is the formation of a rapidly deployable Joint Media Operations Team (JMOT) and the creation of a lead training school responsible for the overall co-ordination, development and delivery of Media Operations training and education across the Defence Community.

People

• Lt Col Kevin Stratford-Wright A leader of one of the MOD's Joint Media Operations Teams (JMOTs) working out of the Defence Media Operations Centre (DMOC) at Uxbridge. He is a strong believer in the essential role that the JMOT's play within keeping journalists embedded in the war zones safe.

"Reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan do suffer a major handicap that makes their job more difficult. This is the slightly strange propensity of Al Qaida and rogue Shia militias in Iraq and the Taliban to kidnap or murder reporters. I say strange as we credit the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan as such effective propagandists yet, arguably, they are missing a trick by restricting journalist activities. Most reporters, quite understandably, are not prepared to go unilateral in search of a story so they come to us, the military, and embed to get the Iraq or Afghanistan story."

• Commander Angie Hancock Served at the Defence Media Operations Centre at RAF Uxbridge in London, 'training senior officers in media interview skills; organised numerous media events including a Royal family facility at the Trafalgar 200 celebrations in Portsmouth, and now works as a media support officer to bereaved families following the deaths of loved ones.'

Publications, Contact, Resources and Notes

Contact

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Website:http://www.defencemediaops.co.uk/