Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The Public Information Officer
The Public Information Officer (PIO) typically has the responsibility for coordi-
nating the collection, verification, and dissemination of information to the public.
These duties may occur as a part of day-to-day organizational operations, or on an
emergency basis. Since the focus of deliberations in this discussion is “Emergency
Management and the Media,” let us concentrate on the roles and responsibilities of
a PIO in an emergency.
The PIO has responsibilities to a number of different constituencies. These
include
◾
The Public—This segement is the largest user group for emergency messages.
This implies that the PIO should be aware of any special demographic char-
acteristics of the community being served, and have familiarity with the best
media channels to distribute information to those who need it.
◾
The Media—This is one of the most important relationships to establish to
make sure information is distributed to those who need it. The PIO will need
to understand the traditional and social media outlets within the jurisdiction.
◾
The Agency—This relationship is the basis of trust within the jurisdiction.
The PIO has a duty to positively portray the efforts and successes of the agency
they represent. This relationship will be especially important when navigating
an agency through the dangerous shoals and reefs of a negative news story.
◾
The Other Responding Agencies—The PIO needs to have a good working
relationship with other agencies responding to the emergency or disaster.
These relationships are especially important in helping to avoid conflicting
stories or statements. If the incident becomes large enough to engage the Joint
Information System (JIS) or the Joint Information Center (JIC), the PIO
needs to be able to function in that environment. In addition, the PIO needs
to be aware of the possibility that there will be differing priorities among the
agencies responding to the emergency or disaster and how to deal with those
differing priorities so that “mixed messages” are not given to the public.
We generally make the statement that the PIO provides public information. It
would be helpful to provide a definition of what public information is, with respect
to emergencies and disasters. Generally, we can conclude that public information is
used by people to save lives, reduce injury and harm, and protect property (FEMA
2009). Given that public information covers such a wide territory, it is understood
that almost every piece of information coming from your agency or emergency oper-
ations center (EOC) could result in the public taking some type of action to protect
themselves or others from the effects of a disaster or emergency. This also emphasizes
the criticality of the accuracy and timeliness of your information (FEMA 2009).
We generally expect that information communicated to the public through
our PIO will result in action by people, provide information, change behaviors or
