Randy Midgett, Carmen Cordoba,

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(No Transcript)
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Group III Randy Midgett, Carmen Cordoba, Michael
Pope, Mike Birmingham
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Whats Your Opinion?
Do you think legalized gambling in the form of a
state lottery should be legal in all 50
states? Raise hands fore/against
350 Million Powerball !!!
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Statement of the Problem
Can the DoD help set the information agenda in
regards to what the public thinks about in terms
of U.S. military and national security issues?
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Overview

• Public confidence highest in 25 years
• Military consistently ranks highest
• Tailhook, Aberdeen, Lt. Flin, no affect
• Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo - Presidential

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Overview

• Defense spending lowest of GNP
• Since 255billion low in 1995, now excess of 300
  billion FY 2001
• Americans support increase

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Poll Data - Budget Amount
Too Little About Right Too Much No Opinion
28 35 32 5 26 45 22 7 17 38 42
3 9 36 59 5
1999 1998 1995 1990
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PA Perspective

• Decline of military experience in congress
• Possible negative impact on appropriations
• Public Opinion can impact congressional voting on
  Mil. issues

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PA Perspective

• PA develop, improve, maintain public
  understanding
• Law prohibits PA PR campaigns
• PA activities to general public increased
  public confidence
• Congressional voting will reflect

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Theory I - Public Opinion

• Twain - voice of God
• Lincoln - everything
• Madison - I know Kamchatka

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Theory I - Public Opinion

• Mydar, 1968 - A diversity of open minds,
  shapeable
• Chisman, 1976 - The idea of public opinion is
  closely related with democracy.

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Theory II - Agenda Setting

• Lippman, 1922 - media provides view of outside
  world
• Long, 1958 , Lang Lang, 1959 - media has power
  over whats talked, thought and felt
• Cohen, 1963 - media tells people what to think
  about

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Theory II - Agenda Setting

• Funkhouser, 1973 - found correlation between
  public issues and newsmagazine issues
• Severin Tankard, 1997 - Publics interest
  setting agenda

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Hypotheses - I
H1 - Military Public Affairs communications
campaigns positively influence media
agenda-setting.
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McGuires Theoretical Foundations of Campaigns

• Communication persuasion
• Change beliefs, attitudes, behaviors
• Input/output matrix

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McGuires Theoretical Foundations of Campaigns

• Input
• sources, messages, channels, receivers, intent

• Output
• endpoints
• determine success

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DoD Public Affairs Guidance

• PAG (5405.3)
• coordinated response of public interest at any
  level
• Identifies spokesperson(s), outlines themes Q/A,
  media coverage (active/passive)

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Case Study

• USA Sexual Harassment
• Tailhook

• Rebuild trust
• Recover recruits
• Retain independence

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Case Study

• Communication Methods
• Open communication
• Cultivate confidence
• Framework expectations

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Case Study

• Communication Methods
• Spoke on networks
• 212 live interviews
• 223 post visits

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Case Study

• Communication Results
• Enhanced public standing
• Female recruiting up
• Re-enlistment up

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Method

• Content Analysis - Opinion of Military vs. Media
  Content
• USA Today, WSJ, NY Times, Wash. Post, Chicago
  Trib, LA Times - 1990 - 99
• PAG issues
• Re-enlistment up

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Method

• Seven-step process (Kaid Wadsworth, 1989)
• Article placement
• Lag-time study (Stone McComb, 1981)

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Hypotheses II
H2 - Defense appropriations are positively
correlated with public opinion of the military
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Discussion

• Results
• Mil. PA communication campaigns positively
  influence media agenda-setting
• Defense appropriations are positively correlated
  with public opinion of the military

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Some Facts - DoD Budget
Army Navy Air Force Agencies Defense-Wide
Total 292,999 255,652 262,564
(in billions)
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Poll Data - Confidence in Government
Military Congress President
Great Deal Quite a Lot
Some Very Little None N/O
34 34 26
6 9
17 51 21 1
1 23 26
30 19 1 1
(Gallup, July 1999)
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Combine Great Deal/Quite a Lot (10 yr.)
Military Presidency Congress
68 49 26 64 53 28 60 49 22
66 39 20 64 45 21 64 38 18 6
8 43 18 69 50 18 85 72 (MAR) 30
(OCT) 18 68 N/A 24
1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990

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Comparison Opinions Budgets
292,999 - 255,652 - 258,537 - 262,564
DoD budget (in billions)
1990 Public Confidence - President - N/A
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Further Study

• Content Analysis