Talk:Defence Media Operations Centre

Some notes that may be useful....

Training School

The Defence Media Operations (DMOC) Training School is in charge of the planning and coordination of the delivery of media training to the whole Defence Community in the UK. The school is staffed by military media officers with a combination of those recently returned from operations overseas, as well as professional civilian media trainer who are full time service at the training base.

Specialist Training

Media Operations personnel are of key importance in military headquarters, their role is of vital importance to the completion of missions. To prepare staff for this role the Defence Media Operations Centre Training School runs differing courses in order to prepare personnel fully for their integral roles within the organisation. Some of these courses include.

• Foundation Media Course
• Advanced Media Course
• Combat Camera Team Course
• Combat Camera Team Leaders' Course,

These courses are highly intensive lasting up to a week during which time skills such as covering interview techniques, media monitoring and fast-paced crisis-handling exercises will be taught to the trainees. These courses are run in close consultation with all three Front Line Commands as well as the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, London.

Media Skills Training

The DMOC Training School offers various levels of Media Skills Courses. This is available for a wide variety of personnel who may expect to find themselves facing the media due to the nature of their work. Personnel who can expect this type of training ranging from senior MOD staff to deploying formation commanders, military award winners and military sporting personalities, in order to improve their media skills. In other words, improving the media skills of those who may be subject to hight scrutiny by the media.

"We can also carry out last minute bespoke MSC training for any personnel who may be exposed to heightened media scrutiny. Advanced, highly targeted and researched training aimed at preparing speakers for specific interviews, may also be provided by our Pre-Interview Training Teams":

Career Training

The DMOC Training School has links with the Defence Academy and the Royal College of Defence Studies, and through this partnership is able to offer not only awareness and skills training concerning media, but also offer a total media support package for all major exercises and wargames. Furthermore the DMOC Training School provides continued media awareness training throughout military careers, through interjection in several career training courses across all three services.

International Training

International Training is a key aspect at the DMOC. Also on the agenda at the school, is part of a partnership involving both NATO and EU partners though this partnership they have been involved in training in Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman, Kenya, Lithuania, Serbia, Malta and Italy. The School has recently trained the command group of an EU Battlegroup, as well as senior NATO ISAF personnel. Training school staff routinely deploy overseas to deliver media and communications training worldwide to help us maintain a global reach.

Collective Training

The School is undertaking the support of delivery of collective media training on a large scale , which is enhanced by participation of contracted Simulated Press which creates an effective media environment in which formation commanders can test out their media skills on a simulated topic. High level media advisors are positioned into Force HQs and give guidance to high level officers and commanders on how they can best implement their media plans to their best ability and help achieve their desired effects.

Logistics Support Wing

The main role of the Logistics Support Wing is to support both emerging and enduring Media Operations and Exercises though it also provides routine support to all of DMOC. The support wings main operations incude providing specialist IT equipmemnt, technical training, vehicles and life support equipment for wherever they may be deployed in the world.

The Logistics Ssupport Wing also assists the Ministry of Defence with the setting up of Press Information Centres at many public events, some of these include.

• D-Day 60 in France
• Trafalgar 200 in Portsmouth
• VE/VJ Day in London
• Somme 90 Commemorations in France.

Joint Media Operations Team

JMOTs provide the means for journalists to get to the heart of a story out on the ground and, where the security situation allows, the CCT will get the images that the journalists cannot. The teams are trained and equipped to high military standards and are supported by a dedicated Logisitcs Support Wing based at Beaconsfield. Working in support of both the UK’s Joint Rapid Reaction Force and Military Aid to Civil Authority tasks, they respond to directives from the MOD and also work to assist other government departments such as the FCO and DfiD.

Deployment

To be able to deploy at short notice, the JMOT maintains elements on high readiness. Typically, a JMOT will deploy either at the start of a new military operation, or at the start of a major new phase to an operation. The JMOT will work in support of British troops on the ground, British government organisations, and foreign organisations that are working as part of a Coalition with the UK.

Operational Experience

The members of the JMOT have built up a range of experience since inception. The JMOT's worth stands out in these situations, when the highly trained operatives are able to report news stories and convey media images in high risk, volatile situations. Several deployments have taken place to Iraq and Afghanistan to deal with the national and international media for major events in both theatres. Some of these can be seen below in the notable achievement section.

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Non-Operational Experience

When not deployed on operations, JMOTs have supported events where there is a strong media interest within the UK, such as the Royal Navy’s Trafalgar 200 Celebrations and the Commemoration Events to mark the 60th Anniversary of World War 2. At the EU Defence Ministers’ Conference in 2006, the team set up and ran a deployable PIC, accredited all press, provided planning support and utilised the CCT to collate imagery for the national media. This can be seen below in the examples of Notable Presence or Achievement

Notable Presence or Achievement

Operation Herrick

Deemed as the JMOT'S first operational tasking, operation Herrick, was concerned with Afghanistan's first democratic elections. The JMOT was deployed ti Afghanistan to bring additional specialist capability and support during the period of increased media interest for the run up to the presidential elections. Their main role was to facilitate balanced, accurate and informed media reporting, and by doing thus demonstrate a continuing commitment of the UK to the fair reporting and continual support of operations in Afghanistan. The JMOTS tasks included:

• facilitating journalists already in attendance
• supporting and acting as a liaison with external agencies
• covering all angles of media coverage, most importantly when faced with volatile situations

Operation Telic

Following the success of operation Herrick in Afghanistan a JMOT was deployed to provide media ops support for the period of the Iraq referendum 6-9 Oct 06. The purpose of the JMOT deployment was very much the same as in Afghanistan. However this was to be a very different beast to Afghanistan. This time, the team would be split between Her Majesty's Embassy (HME) Baghdad, the US Embassy (one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces) and Basra in the south in order to gain more media covereage in the volatile conditions. The operation was severely hindered as it look place mostly within the 'Green Zone' in Baghdad. The JMOT was limited in its ability to set up facilities for the journalists, due to severe restrictions on movement and the transportation issues, due to the dangerous situation on the ground the teams had to travel by helicopter which created severe restrictions on their movement capacity. The JMOT main concerns in Iraq included:

• cooperation with media teams from the USA
• working as escorts, taking multinational groups of media to places with infamous names such as Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Al Anba.

The main befefit of the JMOT's presence in situations of a volatile nature, according to the MoD, is that, "Our ability to go where the civilian journalists cannot and gather imagery is one of the basic tenets of the JMOT operational concept... we are again in the position to do our utmost to ensure that each journalist gets to the place where his 'type' of story will be happening.":

Operation Panthers Claw

Operation Panthers Claw is one of the best examples of the use of the JMOT's training in order to report and convey powerful images for the media of raw combat in a high risk, dangerous environment, which would have been too dangerous for the regular media to be involved in.

Afghan Combat Camera Team Course

Due to the help of the DMOC in Britain the, for the first time ever the Afghan police and army will now have combat camera capability which they have not had the capability for in the past. The team of specialists from the Defence Media Operations Centre in Uxbridge trained a team of 32 students from the both the Afghan police and army. The course was initiated by NATO which has resolved itself to starting new initiatives which will allow for better public information sharing. The project was supported by contractors, and was fronted by Ian Stubbs of the DMOC. The course was a 5 week intensive training venture, during which time the 32 students were taught the basics of journalism, filming, photography and video editing. The training took place in Kabul, at the military training centre in the hope that the team of 32 would, in the future, be able to provide front line coverage of events, for both national an international use.

"They were all very eager to learn and grasped the techniques we taught them very quickly," he said. "This training is a significant step to help the Afghan National Security Forces demonstrate the work they are doing to provide security for their country.":

The teams from the Afghan police and army are now deployed on operations, gathering pictures and footage to tell the story from the front lines which is a groundbreaking achievement for the media industry as never before have the police or army in Afghanistan had the resources do to such.