Publicity—how can it be used to benefit the Navy?
This is a question which everyone, with the good of the service at heart, should give due consideration. Publicity when properly used, is a powerful agent in educating the public to the needs and purpose of any institution. Due to peculiarities of the service the Navy is in far better position to supply the newspapers and other periodicals of the nation with material than the majority of organizations now making use of that field.
In doing this the Navy can bring its message to the people and in the people the Navy finds its ultimate support, for the Navy is an organization created for the benefit of every American citizen. Due to the "muzzle" regulations of previous administrations men of the naval service have been practically forbidden to write for publication. This regulation no longer exists and the Navy should take advantage of the opportunity to tell its story, nay stories, to the nation.
During the war the full value of publicity was first brought to light. True, the use of publicity antedates the war by several centuries, but not until concerted action by a nation of 100,000,000 people was necessary for the successful conduct of a war was it so extensively used.
Through great campaigns of publicity in the newspapers and magazines of the country the United States Government was able to float bond issues that a decade prior to the war would have flooded the market. The need for funds to win the great conflict was brought to the attention of the citizenry and when the various issues were put on the block they were taken up almost at once. Not only did this aid the government by supplying funds but it also inculcated in the minds of the people a desire to save. This factor of thrift which was created more than justified the campaign and benefited the nation almost as greatly as making it actually possible to win the war.
Not only were the bond issues made successful by the use of nation-wide publicity but on matters of policy the government, during the war, was able to weld public opinion of the nation into one mold. This gave the government support in affairs both domestic and foreign and enabled it to carry on its program with a solid front.
Of course when the actual conflict had ended and the need for concerted action was not so apparent the people of the country began to express themselves along party lines and lustily condemned or approved the actions of the government as they saw fit. Even so publicity played its part in this.
Had President Wilson taken the people of the nation and Congress into his confidence during the peace negotiations there is a possibility that he would have succeeded in causing America to have entered the League of Nations. That question, however, is an academic one and must forever remain merely a subject for conjecture.
Had he conducted a campaign of educational publicity, instead of demanding, it is possible he could have had a Democratic Congress to support his policies. It was by the use of publicity that his opponents won their victory, for how else could the nation have acted with such unanimity in the succeeding elections?
These examples briefly demonstrate the power of publicity. Though the American people may profess a distrust of their press they are nevertheless prone to believe what they read in the papers and to take editorial comment as the truth, especially on questions with which they do not come in actual contact.
Since the war the field of publicity has been cultivated most extensively. Every politician, every public utility corporation and in fact every organization that must have aid from the people has resorted to publicity to bring its side of the question before the people it wishes to influence. Banks, department stores, show-houses, railroads, traction companies, automobile manufacturers, churches, social welfare bodies all have publicity staffs. Some of these are good-sized organizations in which a score or so of people are employed.
One of the first things a newly created organization does nowadays is to appoint a press or publicity committee. It is the duty of that committee to take news of the club's happenings to the press, and what is more important to get it in the papers. Individuals with ambitions to be considered prominent often employ publicity writers to get their names into print at frequent intervals.
Of course it is true that this publicity is often highly colored, and always favorable to the institutions making use of it. There are times when the publicity agents will try to keep news derogatory to their institutions from the news columns. However, in all of this there is a certain amount of stuff that is valuable and informative to the public. This the newspapers use.
In passing it might be well to say that an experienced newspaper man is seldom fooled by any of this publicity. He can detect it as soon as it is laid on his desk. Often the publicity has no news element in it but gives, inadvertently, a tip to a real story. In this event staff members of the paper are put to work and the facts secured.
BALD PROPAGANDA DANGEROUS
One of the most insidious things in publicity is the propaganda that various organizations try to put over. During the war propaganda was extensively used to create and maintain the morale of the nation so that military losses would not seem out of proportion to the ultimate fruits of victory. The day of propaganda, especially "bald" propaganda, is gone except when used in such affairs as conducting a public campign for charity or some such move. Even in such cases it is to be seriously questioned whether the newspaper readers are so blind as not to see the propaganda earmarks.
The public will not tolerate sheer propaganda. The worst that can be said about any story or article appearing in a newspaper is that "it's merely propaganda." When that is said the article is condemned and usually whatever work has been done in creating a favorable impression of the cause involved is undone.
"Veiled" propaganda, however, is useful. An organization that is successful in keeping its name before the public through the medium of the press can be said to be using "veiled" propaganda for the results in bringing the public to know the institution. It is an excellent form of advertising and when the actions of the institution are worthy of note and commendation a favorable impression is soon created in the public mind.
How does all of this affect the Navy?
What has gone before merely shows the possibilities and to some extent the dangers of publicity. Good publicity is that which "gets by" the editors of a newspaper and it succeeds in this because it has legitimate news elements or elements of a good human interest story.
As said before the Navy is indeed fortunate in that the peculiarities of the service are conducive to good publicity. The romance of seagoing folk and seagoing ways of doing things is still sought by the landsmen in print. Of this witness the sale of novels of the sea, the interest of the public in ships, and to bring it home to the Navy, the crowds that come aboard a man-of-war on visiting days. The Navy can capitalize on these factors and bring its message to the American people and in doing so do much to overcome the unfortunate attitude prevalent in many communities that the Navy is an economic waste.
The Navy of these United States belongs to the American people. They are interested in it and what is more they are proud of its heroic deeds of the past. Seagoing folk are always more democratic than military men. This is due to the fact that all men going down to the sea are forced to be on their own resources to a large degree, be they admirals or apprentice seamen. This reacts on the public in a way that is most favorable to the Navy, for it is always to be remembered that these American people are democratic and also that the romance and mystery of the sea appeal to them.
News of the Navy and stories about it are always eagerly sought out and read by the American public. This is done because they want to know about the Navy and because they feel that the Navy is of vital importance to them. There is, even despite sporadic outbursts against the so-called economic waste of the Navy, an inherent faith in the Navy on the part of the people. They regard the Navy as a symbol of defense vital to the nation's existence and also symbolic of the sovereignty of the United States.
What is more to the point, it is the right of the American people that they should know about their Navy. True this interest may appear to Navy people as foolish inquisitiveness, but it is far from that.
Unfortunately the Navy has too often been the point of attack and the center of machinations by politicians who desire only a sufficient number of votes to secure for themselves the offices and selfish aims they seek. Much harm has been done the Navy by these schemes and it was from this source that the fallacy of economic waste arose. The American people, unable to get real facts, have often been hoodwinked by such men into believing that the Navy is far from what it really is.
Then too, the Navy has had to bear the challenges of disgruntled people and misinformed writers without being able to answer them, that is until the "muzzle" regulation was revoked. Much harm has been done by such writers who have often created the impression that the Navy is a remnant of the dark ages and that underlings are regularly spread-eagled, cast frequently in double irons, and treated in all manner of barbaric ways for commission of insignificant violations of regulations. Much of this stuff is spread by men who have been in the Navy and could not measure up to its standards. After getting out they proceeded to air their views, and because of the "muzzle" regulation the Navy could not answer these libels or correct the erroneous impression created in the public mind.
An example of what this. kind of writing does can be found in the hazing problems of the Naval Academy. According to some writers this hazing business is nothing short of a Spanish Inquisition. No one has called attention to the fact that if a midshipman had to stand one-half of the punishment accorded a college freshman he would have just grounds for complaint. Recently there appeared three articles in the Saturday Evening Post that explained the reasons for the hazing. These articles clearly and concisely told how hazing was by some deemed necessary for the establishment of discipline and the esprit de corps of the student officers.
People are willing to believe what they read and when they can only read the false they cannot be expected to have ideas that are based on the truth. Take for instance the old dame who scornfully derided the story told by a sailorman about flying fish.
"I can believe about mermaids," she said, "for I have read about them, but young man you can't expect me to believe your story about flying fish."
There is a vast field in the Navy from which stories, both news and feature, can be written. In every land comumnity of any size a newspaper will be found, and that sheet, no matter how insignificant, will have stories of that community that are interesting reading to anyone. A ship is such a community and on shipboard things happen that are also interesting to everyone.
Of course Navy publicity cannot be crowded, any more than can any other type. However, when men of the Navy come to realize the great possibilities in the service there will be no lack of material. Sea yarns, target practices, ship routine, origin of naval customs and courtesies and scores of other things can be woven and in fact have been, into intensely interesting stories that landsmen as well as seamen enjoy reading.
Recently a large Northwestern newspaper printed a series of stories on everyday events in the Navy. The series continued for some time, with one story each Sunday. These stories created no little interest.
During the war the Navy was in close contact with the public. Men from the interior states shipped in the "outfit" and did their bit. They returned to their homes after the war and became Navy enthusiasts. These men form a nucleus around which the Navy can work in its publicity campaign. In fact the Navy cannot afford to allow the people to lose the interest they acquired during the war. Through the use of publicity this contact can not only be maintained but broadened.
During the Washington Arms Conference the nation followed closely the actions of the representatives in their work. Each community talked Navy almost exclusively. The people were proud of the victory won by American diplomacy, but later allowed Congress to pass a bill that did not provide for the maintenance of the Navy at the full 5-5-3 strength allowed by the treaty. Why? Because they did not have data at hand to inform them as to the needs of the Navy to maintain that strength. Here publicity would have won the Navy its just position, despite the political machinations.
Now comes the question as to what form publicity for the Navy should take and how it can successfully be worked. As said before the scope of material available is unlimited. The stories can be straight news, feature stories, partly fiction and partly fact, or they can be expositions of naval policy. Of course everyone connected with the Navy will realize the difference between that information that can be given to the public and that which by its military nature is confidential. Leaving out material that even borders on a confidential nature the field is still enormous.
In Navy publicity rank must to a certain extent go by the board. A story about Bill Spivins, captain of the forward turret, may be of greater value, both from news and human interest angles, than a dry discourse delivered by Admiral Hevywate at the Squedunk Rotary Club luncheon. One, the admiral's speech, will be of local interest while the other may have all of the elements that make a human interest story that will be read throughout the nation.
NEWS SENSE IS IMPORTANT
The greatest difficulty in developing Navy publicity will be in getting the officers and men of the Navy to acquire a sense for news. This is important but is not at all impossible.
Navy men by the nature of their occupation are not trained to be newspapermen. This is a profession in itself, but there is nothing more mysterious about it than the operation of a ship is to the landsman. A newspaper man would hardly attempt to run a ship unless he had some training. However, there are many newspapermen, good ones too, that have served in the Naval Reserve and while possibly they may not be up to all of the fine tricks of navigation, they could get the ship from one point to another without disaster. So can the Navy man master the rudiment of news writing and gain the news sense without in any way becoming less efficient in his own profession.
One of the best ways of getting this ability is to study a newspaper. See what is printed and how it is written. Then too by asking newspapermen questions this source can be greatly augmented. Aside from stories pertaining to policy, which every newspaper has, it is safe to say that the story printed was printed because it was worth it. The truth of this can be seen if one stops to think of the enormous number of stories written by newspapermen that never get into print. It isn't that the unprinted stories are poor, but merely that the ones printed are so much better.
As in navigation, there are certain fundamental rules that prevail in news writing. First in importance is the great news sextette, "What, Who, Where, When, Why, and How." These elements are in every story, be it a straight news story or a feature yarn. Second is the axiom that often the everyday things, with a slightly unusual twist make the best stories. Third is the ability to correlate the lines of action preceding and following a happening.
In a straight news story the most important thing is the lead. In good newspaper practice the lead is found in the opening paragraph of a story and in that paragraph the entire story is told, minus of course the unimportant details. A news story is built exactly opposite to a fiction story. In fiction the writer works up to the climax, which is at the end of the story, while in news writing the climax is first and the writer then works down, taking the most important details first and running down to the least important.
This is done for many reasons. First the average reader wants to know what the story is all about and if it is worth reading before he attempts to follow a column of type. The lead tells the story briefly and the reader can then judge whether it warrants further perusal. Then too, stories often have to be cut so they can be put in a given amount of space. In cutting a news story it is always done from the bottom. In this way everything but the lead can be eliminated and yet the story told. The details given outside of the lead are merely to give the reader as much information as is needed to make all factors of the story clear.
Feature stories vary in construction from news stories but follow fairly closely the general construction outlined. Feature stories are more nearly fiction types.
However, the writing of stories isn't the important factor now under discussion. That factor is the ability to judge news and to know when a thing is or is not news. In this day and age of specialists the Navy man will fare better in his publicity work if he co-operates with newspaper men. A Navy story may come up, the Navy man in touch with the affair may realize that it is news but may not have the ability to handle the story to its best advantage. By calling in a newspaperman, and they are always eager to get a real story, the same end may be accomplished as if the Navy man wrote the story and sent it in. In fact the end may be attained in a much better way than if the story had been handled by the Navy man.
An example of this can be given by the work of the Portland, Ore., Navy Recruiting Station in operating a Navy news bureau. The officer in charge secured the co-operation of a newspaperman who was a Naval Reservist and a service was started that furnished newspapers in all parts of Oregon with news items and short feature stories at least once a month. If a big story broke it was sent out as a special.
At first the service met with little success. One or two papers outside of Portland printed the stories sent out but that was all. As the service developed and the country papers began to realize they were getting news that would not otherwise reach them more of the material was used and within three or four months about sixty per cent of the papers in the state were using the stories sent out.
Success of this service was due largely to a scheme thought out by the recruiting officer, Lieutenant-Commander Raymond E. Kerr, whereby men enlisting in the Navy from northwestern towns would form what was known as a "booster fleet." Chambers of Commerce in the cities and towns from which these men came agreed to co-operate and supply the men with booklets and news from home. In this way the men were kept in contact with affairs in their home towns. The men in turn were to act as boosters for their community whenever the opportunity arose. As the majority of the men were sent to the Pacific Fleet and were stationed in the coast ports they had the opportunity of coming in contact with large numbers of tourists and through them spread the gospel of "the old home town."
This scheme was of course published in practically every paper in the state, and what is more, many of the papers made favorable editorial comment on the scheme. When the papers began to realize that the Navy news service was not merely a thing to spread propaganda for a big Navy they began using all of the material sent out.
Stories for this service were chosen with two things in view, first the local interest, which was given the most consideration, and the sending out of stories that were not carried by the press association wires.
One month's batch of stories consisted of a story about sonic sounding and what it meant, an advance story about the cruise of the U. S. S. Milwaukee to Australia, a story telling that a certain number of students at the state colleges could take a cruise on some of the battleships and one telling of the opportunities for enlisted men to enter the Naval Academy.
In all of the stories care was taken to avoid "bald" propaganda, except when a recruiting party was sent out on the road. Then a story was sent out giving the itinerary of the party and telling of a motion picture reel that would be shown at the various towns visited. Even this was written in straight news style without trying to make an appeal for men to join the Navy, yet that message was carried in each story.
This station soon established itself as one of the leading recruiting stations of the nation. To say that it was entirely due to publicity would be stretching the point rather far but there is no doubt that publicity played a large part in this work.
Here is an example of publicity with service. The commanding officer of the station created a "booster fleet" and made the fact known throughout the state by the use of publicity. He went further and called attention of the bankers in the various towns to the fact that allotments could be made by the men to their bank and encouraged recruits to make such allotments. This too was brought out in the publicity, and in such a manner that readers were given the impression that Navy men were thrifty and that the Navy offered the young man the opportunity to save money. All of this was important for it created a favorable impression in the minds of the public.
This was evidenced when recruiting parties sent out from the station, after the campaign had been in progress for some time, were cordially welcomed by the civic organizations in the smaller towns. Instead of being tolerated, as formerly, these men were invited to address club meetings and given every opportunity to deliver their message and carry out their work in the community.
One of the greatest obstacles found was the educators of the state. They assumed the attitude that by entering the Navy young men were throwing away all chances of receiving an education. The station worked up a story based on the creation of correspondence courses for Navy men and sent it through the news service. Fortunately the man in charge of the correspondence courses was an Oregon educator, L. R. Alderman, and the stories had considerable local interest. This story carried the message that Navy men could receive the benefits of an education and recruiting parties were then accorded more cordial treatment by the school authorities in the various towns.
AID NEWSPAPERMEN
Details of the system worked out by the Portland office have been given in some length to impress on Navy men the value of publicity and to prove that it can be made beneficial to the Navy. Its value in recruiting work was shown by the success of the scheme; and as in the recruiting work, publicity may be made to benefit the Navy at large if it is properly developed.
Men of the Navy can do a great work for the service if they will let down the bars and meet newspapermen on common ground. Too frequently a reporter goes aboard a naval vessel to get a story and is unable to see anyone except perhaps the boatswain's mate on watch. An officer alive to the situation can do much to create in that man's mind a favorable impression of the outfit. He can tell of some peculiar incident that occurred while at sea and thereby give the reporter the basis of a rattling good story.
Officers on shore duty, especially recruiting, will do well to cultivate acquaintances on the various papers of the city in which they are stationed. When the newspapermen realize that the Navy offices have news and will give it out willingly they soon acquire the habit of coming around for it instead of waiting to be called.
This situation is created by the Navy men acquiring the ability to judge news. Once that has happened the rest will be easy, for newspapermen are "for a man who knows news." Then too, the various offices can supply newspapers with accurate information on Navy matters. This is a point that must be developed. If the local newspapers can call at the recruiting station and get reliable information on naval affairs much of the misunderstanding of naval matters will be eliminated.
The Navy might even adopt the Portland office plan to the extent of having each officer keep in touch with the papers of his home town. In this way the publicity scheme could be worked out to an advantage all the way round. This proved successful on last Navy Day, but why wait a whole year to carry on?
For a long time the Navy has had the reputation of being the "Silent Service." Perhaps it has been too silent for its own good. Now that the "muzzle" regulation has been abolished it would be well for the Navy to take advantage of the opportunity. A short extension course on news writing might even be worked out so that those wishing to do so could acquire the rudiments of news writing.
At present the Navy maintains a pictorial service under the New York Recruiting Office. This service is doing a valuable work in sending out Navy pictures, which are used in a large number of the big daily papers. This service is but a portion of the field that is open to the Navy along publicity lines. As a result of this service Navy pictures of interest to the whole nation are distributed so that the Navy and its work are being brought to the minds of thousands who see the pictures.
The main thing to work for is to get the Navy side of the story to the American people through the newspapers and magazines. This can be done by the Navy men becoming adept at judging news and then either doing the writing or telling some newspaperman about the elements of the story at hand. It is well to remember that often people close to a news story are unable to see it because to them it does not appear to be worthy of note. That is one of the obstacles, the worst in fact, to be overcome. It can be overcome, however, and when it has been, much will have been done towards "Taking the Navy to the People."