The Role Of A Public Information Officer

Public information officers are usually employed by some type of governmental agency, their responsibilities include creating communication between government organizations, the media, and the public, these public information officers work with upper management at all of the government levels serving as a buffer relaying necessary information to other departments, media, and the public, organizations such as police and fire departments usually have their own public information officer which is distinct from the rest of the agency (Roberts, 2018). The public information officer has the responsibility of making sure any and all statements that are released to the public follow guidelines of the agency, these statements must be accurate and
Another duty of the PIO is to work behind the scene gathering information that is valuable to the institution, analyzing recent information, and writing speeches and working with other officials of the institution to plan their next move (Roberts, 2018). Most of the public information officer time is spent working with varies media outlets, press release statements which are used by the officer to jump-start the media in the hopes they will publish or relay their information to the public. Examples of public information officers would be John Zangardi who serves as the chief officer for the Department of Homeland Security, he has also served as a chief officer at the Department of Defense (President Donald J. Trump announces key additions to his administration, 2017). Another PIO is Lt. Sam Robinson who is the PIO at San Quentin Prison he has served in this capacity for five years. Mr. Robinson runs at least two tours a year of the institution for college classes, law enforcement groups, documentary filmmakers, and the public figures, he also spends countless hours responding to the media inquiries about inmates on death row. His reviews by others have been excellent and he is a great historian with a flair for the media (Opec staff,
As a public information officer working within a correctional institution my first order of business is familiarizing myself with the policy and procedures of the institution, also studying the state guidelines for the institution. Reviewing the work of the previous public information officer gives me insight into what was right and what went wrong so the same mistake is not made