Public Affairs Specialist Army Positions

Working in the Army as a media person can be very rewarding.  The position that deals with the media and dissemination of information is called the Army Public Affairs Specialist.  The Public Affairs Specialist works with photographs, news releases, News articles and newspaper stories; web and Internet based material, and other sources of information and military news. The Public Affairs specialist works to coordinate and assist Army Public Affairs programs with civilian and military news Media.

Radio, broadcast television, and other media sources are an important outlet of information for the Army, and help spread the stories about events and people in the Army.  They are also routes of information to allow the Army story to be told and related to the general public.
The Public affairs specialist helps to schedule these types of events and to assist in making soldiers available to be interviewed by media sources.  Some of the duties you may perform are: Preparing, researching and distributing military news releases on activities, Army Events and Army Personnel.  You may help arrange and schedule interviews, assist in gathering information for news and Army information publications and news programs.

Other duties you may be assigned or participate in include:
-Working as liaison or escort to Civilian Media members.
-Collecting and relating information on the Army for public relations usage.
-Brainstorming and developing news and feature Army Story ideas.
-Conducting, arranging and scheduling a variety of interviews.
-Leading and conducting media training sessions.

Training for an Army Public Affairs Specialist begins with the required nine weeks of Basic Training, followed by advanced individual training.  Following Basic, you will attend twelve weeks of advance training at Fort Meade, Maryland.  You will be instructed at the Defense Information School on how to perform the duties and Public Affairs Specialist Tasks.  Hands on training with cameras, photographs, newspaper and media sources, and other journalistic skills will be taught to you.  Part of the training will be classroom but other parts will be in the field experience covering news and feature events.

During your training you will participate in putting together an actual newspaper with photographs and contributed stories. Instruction in operating a camera, writing news stories, and how to edit your work and other journalistic editing will be part of your instruction.  You will develop skills in news story, newspaper, and media production and design.  You will be modeled and learn various interviewing techniques.  Different skills in photojournalism will be taught and demonstrated for you.  And you will be taught to investigate, research and write in news, feature and sports formats.