Continuing Education provides strategic media training for FBI professionals

By Lindsay Brasington

The FBI staked out the School of Journalism and Mass Communications for two days and credits its “investigation” with making the agency smarter in the ways it deals with the media and the public. The only thing arresting was the agents’ interest in Strategic Media Training provided through the school’s Continuing Education Program.

The training session on February 12 and 13 was designed to help local FBI supervisors conduct successful press conferences and interviews with the media. Participants were trained to convey necessary information to the public and to create a level of confidence for times when they are called to conduct a media conference or public interview.

“The goal is to get prepared to deal with the media,” said Denise Taiste of the FBI. As Public Affairs Specialist for the FBI’s unit in South Carolina, Taiste deals with media on a daily basis.

Day One of the concentrated program focused on relations between the FBI and the media, success in working with the media and how to conduct successful interviews and press conferences. The final training session of the day was entitled “Saying What You Mean; Meaning What You Say,” designed to help FBI supervisors provide reports that are focused and meaningful to the public.

On Day Two, participants held mock press conferences for scenarios they had prepared in advance. Professors Sid Bedingfield and Hugh Munn played the persistent journalists, pressing questions to prepare the agents for dealing with media in real-life situations. In the afternoon, Bedingfield and Munn critiqued the interviews.

The FBI’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., organized the workshop. “The FBI has focused hard the past two years on training executives and supervisors in communication. This trend is nationwide,” said Cathy Milhoan of the bureau’s Office of Public Affairs.

“In law enforcement, communications skills are very important,” Milhoan said. “We work for the American public. Especially in a post-9-11 world, it is important for people to see the good things we do for the public.”

Melissa Munn from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Agency said it is important for an FBI agent to be able to “keep control of his or her news conference.” The training was very successful, as many of the participants noticed improvement in each other’s ability to stay focused on their message, and much of the agents’ anxiety about public speaking was relieved.

“This has been a great group,” said Pat Jackson, Director of Continuing Education and Special Events, SJMC. “They are really enjoying what they are learning.”

Since the inception of the program, the school’s Continuing Education Program has provided training for such organizations as the United States Army, United Way, the Internal Revenue Service, the South Carolina Bar Association, Readers’ Digest, the Social Security Administration and the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) to sharpen communication and media relations skills.

Lindsay Brasington has a B.A. in English from Clemson University. She is working on her Master of Mass Communication in print journalism at the USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications.