CHAPTER 1 THE NAVY JOURNALIST

To the young man or woman choosing a Navy career field, whether for one enlistment or for 30 years, the journalist rating offers endless avenues for an imaginative, yet mature, thinker.

Many of the duties and responsibilities of the journalist rank among Americans' favorite hobbies and pastimes, such as writing, broadcasting and photography. The Navy journalist learns and practices a distinguished profession and becomes an official representative of the Navy in public affairs matters.

The first enlisted specialists to work full time in the field of Navy journalism were Naval Reserve personnel selected during the early years of World War II. They were designated Specialist X (Naval Correspondents). In 1948, under a major overhaul affecting almost every enlisted rating, the journalist (JO) rating was established.

MAJOR TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the major tasks and responsibilities of the Navy journalist, the personal traits required for one to best perform the duties of the rating, the applicable NECs, and the purpose of the JO 3 & 2 training manual (TRAMAN).

In our democratic society, government depends on the consent of the governed. This important principle means that, in the long run, the United States government does only what the people want it to do. Therefore, we can have a Navy only if the people know and understand the importance of the Navy and support it.

The Navy, like the other services, depends on this country's citizens for the four key tools of its trade - personnel, money, materials and the authority to carry out its mission. As a Navy journalist, your main function will be to make the facts about your Navy available to the Navy's three main publics - the people at your ship or station, Navy people in general and the people of the United States as a whole.

Your CO is responsible for informing the Navy's publics. Your responsibility is to assist your command's public affairs officer (PAO) in accomplishing the Navy's and the command's public affairs goals.

Some of the key assignments for Navy journalists include the following:

Writing Navy news releases and feature articles from personal interviews, examination of messages or witnessing events

Taking and processing news photographss and writing cutlines

Preparing material for commercial radio and television use

Serving on the staff of an Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) station or Navy Broadcasting Service (NBS) detachment as an interviewer or announcer (subject to the requirements for voice quality, public speaking, presence and sense of timing)

Preparing command histories and CO, XO and C/MC biographies

Rewriting and localizing news releases received from the Navy Internal Relations Activity (NIRA) and other sources throughout the naval establishment

Coordinating special events

Editing material and preparing copy, art and layouts for the printing of Navy publications, such as ship and station newspapers, command information brochures, welcome aboard brochures, cruisebooks and fact sheets

Assisting in the preparation of speeches and other presentations on naval topics

Preparing material on individual Navy members for release to the Navy's Fleet Home Town News Center

Preparing official correspondence and directives and performing other administrative functions in a public affairs office

To perform these duties well, you need to master verbal, oral and visual communication techniques. You must be a constant reader who is always abreast of current events in and out of the Navy. You must know enough about the Navy to interpret and translate its activities and actions intelligently to the civilian public. In the performance of their duties, journalists are expected to produce smooth copies of their own material. Therefore, you must be a qualified typist who meets the established standards for speed and accuracy. You also must be computer literate.

Finally, a journalist must have the ability to learn, and your main learning objective must be learning to write well. You must be better than average in your use of the English language. You must learn to write quickly, plainly and accurately. Your aim is to turn out news copy that can be used by a newspaper or radio/television station with a minimal need for editing or rewriting.

The major areas in which you will be expected to develop knowledge and skills include newswriting, editing and the layout and makeup of Navy publications. Other areas are the principles of printing, radio and television, photography and administration.

As you progress in experience, maturity and service seniority, you likely will become the trusted executive of the PAO. As such, you will find yourself performing many of the functions of a PAO. This will be particularly true if your boss is a collateral-duty PAO. Collateral duty means that the officer has other assignments that are considered primary duties. In such cases his primary responsibilities often allow only minimum time for public affairs work. Therefore, you also must learn the theory and practice of public affairs policy.