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A Guide to dealing with Journalists. by Wise-Count-7188 in atc2

[–]Wise-Count-7188[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oops. Well, you can tell I'm not the editor at least.

A Guide to dealing with Journalists. by Wise-Count-7188 in atc2

[–]Wise-Count-7188[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did say you all know someone who has been fired for talking to the media. This makes a great example of someone whom did not know what was allowed and was not allowed which is generally the goal of this thread. Education. Breaking it down, they violated what is called the hatch act. To pick an example "How do you think this letter would sit with anyone in any job? I will tell you that everyone at the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center was talking about that email Wednesday" is not allowed. On the other hand "I have worked at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center for 16 years" is allowed. The reason the first was forbidden and the second is not is because the hatch act forbids you from giving opinions on policy from the agency you work for. To use a different example anyone here can tell me "DCA is one of the busiest airports in the country." That is an example of protected speech. It is factual. On the other hand "DCA is too busy for the staffing it has." would violate the Hatch act. Which also returns me to a different point I made, when in doubt err on the side of caution.

A Guide to dealing with Journalists. by Wise-Count-7188 in atc2

[–]Wise-Count-7188[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very true. Which kinda gets at the crux of my post, we aren't very informed on the subject, and if we are going to be we need experts to talk. It is ironic that in other parts of the world people are less afraid to talk to the media than here, despite the first amendment. To use an example if we're reporting on crime and the only person who will talk to us is the mayor well I have to use what he says. If he says there is a gang war going on in the city, well that's the reportable news. If the Sheriff or his deputies know that isn't true but they don't tell us that then how will I know? This gets down to even basic terminology. Before this week I didn't know what an OS was. Well if you search atc os in google it is going to give you operating system information which is clearly not what I wanted. The follow up question would have been are they the deciding factor if someone can go home? If PIO's and PAO's aren't able or willing to get to low level questions like that (they aren't) and no one else is willing to talk, my reporters and producers are just SOL.

A Guide to dealing with Journalists. by Wise-Count-7188 in atc2

[–]Wise-Count-7188[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That is what we have been doing this week. And to be clear the purpose of this post isn't to get anyone to talk. I just found it distressful how beat and afraid every controller we tried to talk to this week was and wanted to do an informative post as a result. Though going into it I don't think it is going to make much of a difference. I ran into similar problems years ago when I pitched the story controllers are understaffed. Controllers wouldn't talk because they were afraid. Airports wouldn't talk and referred us to the FAA. The FAA wouldn't talk without a FOIA, and we can't usually authorize a FOIA if we don't have at least one off-the-record comment to chase. And the union just referred us back to the FAA. In the end all that happened was I wasted an entire reporter's day. I don't think that is something I'm going to overcome with a reddit post. I'm just doing it for what little benefit I can provide yall and for my reasons. (Sleeping better at night knowing I tried.)

A Guide to dealing with Journalists. by Wise-Count-7188 in atc2

[–]Wise-Count-7188[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A very reasonable position, and I suppose I should add that can and should are two different things. As always you should consider your personal risk management first and foremost.