The Defense Media Activity (DMA), a division in the Department of Defense, runs programs related to public relations and information dissemination. It creates press releases through a news service and sets policy for internal publications, visual information, and audiovisual programs. The DMA also produces media aimed at service members and their families, and facilitates the publication of a daily newspaper, Stars and Stripes, for service members.
The agency was established in October 2008 as a result of the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act. It consolidates the Soldiers Media Center, Naval Media Center, Marine Corps News, Air Force News Service, and American Forces Information Service (AFIS) into a single operation under its moniker.
The AFIS, which previously performed DMA’s functions, was created in 1977 and gained many critics. Some believe it deceptive—at best—that press releases mimic the style of actual news reports. Others decry the perceived blurring of the distinction between public relations and news production that has occurred over past years. There were also allegations of wrongdoing leveled against an AFIS PR effort called “America Supports You” (see Controversies below). For its part, the agency insisted that its American Forces Radio and Television Service broadcasts were free from “censorship, propagandizing or manipulation.” The law also guarantees Stars and Stripes editorial independence, although there are still some prohibitions
The Armed Forces Radio Service was established on May 26, 1942, by order of the Department of Defense, after several small military radio stations proved popular with troops. At first, the service produced its own programming in addition to rerunning shows that appeared on commercial networks. The service started relying completely on commercial networks by 1950.
After a practice run at an Air Force base in Maine, the military added television signals to its broadcast, becoming the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in 1954.
The assistant secretary of defense for public relations assumed responsibility for military broadcasting when the AFIS was created in 1977.
The 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) recommendations required the Department of Defense to take over AFIS and consolidate the Army Broadcasting Service, Soldiers Radio/TV, Soldiers Magazine (Soldiers Media Center), the Naval Media Center, the Air Force News Agency, and the Army/Air Force Hometown News Service into the new Defense Media Activity (DMA) located at Ft. Meade, Maryland.
DoD to consolidate all media activities (by William H. McMichael, Army Times)
The Defense Media Activity (DMA) is broken into the following divisions.
American Forces Radio and Television Service
The American Forces Radio and Television Service provides programming for about 1 million service members, Department of Defense employees and contractors, and their families under the American Forces Network (AFN) brand name. The AFN distributes nine television channels through the Defense Media Center in Riverside County, California; a tenth, the Pentagon Channel (see below), is produced separately by the Department of Defense Office of Public Affairs in Virginia, but is also distributed over the AFN network. Broadcasts typically include popular music, entertainment programming supplied free of charge by commercial networks, sports and news—“a touch of home” for those who are serving abroad, as the agency puts it. There are no commercials, with so-called “command information spots” containing public-service announcements taking their place.
Other AFRTS subdivisions carry out specific jobs:
- The Radio and Television Production Office approves spot announcements for broadcast on AFRTS networks.
- The Pentagon Channel News Center produces a 30-minute news show and hourly updates for service members 24 hours a day. It has its own channel that’s bundled with AFN.
Stars and Stripes is a newspaper published for the military, Department of Defense employees, affiliated contractors and their families. The newspaper has a readership of about 420,000, with four editions serving different world regions published each day. It also publishes an online edition, Stripes.com, several weekly and monthly publications, and numerous special supplements. By statute, the paper is editorially independent—with some limitations. For example, Stars and Stripes is prohibited from printing classified information that hasn’t been divulged in the commercial media first.
Soldiers is the official U.S. Army magazine.
All Hands is the official U.S. Navy magazine.
Airman is the official U.S. Air Force magazine.
HometownLink is the site of the Joint Hometown News Service (JHNS), a directorate of the DMA’s production component.
The DMA manages Defense.gov, the Department of Defense Web portal.
The DMA oversees Department of Defense press releases.
Defense Visual Information Directorate
The Defense Visual Information Directorate provides access to visual information relating to the U.S. military, including films, still photographs, and other multimedia records. It’s located at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California.
Joint Visual Information Services Distribution Activity (pdf)
The JVISDA catalogs and provides access to multimedia training materials for the armed services.
The DMA provides training through DINFOS, the Department of Defense school for public relations, journalism, broadcasting, and related fields. The DINFOS is located at Maryland’s Fort George G. Meade.
Our Military (which replaced http://www.ourmilitary.mil/America Supports You) is a Department of Defense PR effort that claims to offer everyday Americans the opportunity to show their support for U.S. troops. As America Supports You, this effort was implicated in alleged misuse of taxpayer funds and removed as a DMA entity. (See Controversies below.)
Defend America recycles press releases and stories published by the American Forces News Service, arranging them in a way that’s reminiscent of news sites. The Defense Department is no longer maintaining this Web page, opting instead to publish releases on its Defense.gov Web site.
Strategic Influence Office ‘Closed Down,’ Says Rumsfeld an example of an American Forces Press Service release
Defense Media Activity, featuring downloadable news videos from the Department of Defense Web site
Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, from the Museum of Broadcast Communications Web site
MyAFN, from the American Forces Network Online Web site
Special Reports, from the Department of Defense Web site
From the Web Site of Defense Media Activity
Magazine of the U.S. Air Force - Airman
Magazine of the U.S. Army – Soldiers
Magazine of the U.S. Marines - MarinesMag
Magazine of the U.S. Navy – All Hands
Video – Official DMA
The Defense Media Activity (DMA) has spent more than $7.5 million on 24 contractor transactions since the agency’s founding in FY 2008, according to USASpending.gov. The top five products or services paid for were engineering and technical services ($6,776,185), physical science research and development ($500,000), natural resource management and conservation ($124,860), architects and engineers ($65,780), and maintenance/repair of ADP equipment and supplies ($22,342).
The top five recipients of contractor spending by DMA during that period were:
1. Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems Inc. $5,444,488
2. Lockheed Martin Corporation $1,331,696
3. Hybrid Photonics LLC $500,000
4. Spatial Environmental Solutions Corporation $124,860
5. Project Management Services Inc. $65,780
News or Propaganda?
Some argue that some Defense Media Activity (DMA), and previously AFIS, news products, including The Pentagon Channel, border on propaganda.
Pentagon sites: Journalism or propaganda? (by Barbara Starr and Larry Shaughnessy, CNN)
Pentagon May Have Wrongly Mixed Propaganda With PR, Inspector General Says (by Walter Pincus, Washington Post)
Pentagon mixed propaganda with PR, report finds (by John Byrne, The Raw Story)
Secretary Gates’ Directive on DoD Interaction with the Media (pdf)
Right-Wing Bias
Many have protested the fact that conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s show is broadcast on the American Forces Radio network without being balanced by a comparable left-wing program.
Rush’s forced conscripts (by Eric Boehlert, Salon.com)
Media Matters for America Asks Secretary Rumsfeld To Remove Limbaugh’s Radio Show from Taxpayer-Funded American Forces Radio (Media Matters for America) (pdf)
Does Rush Limbaugh belong on armed forces radio? Criticism mounts. (by Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor)
Female Veterans Demand Rush Limbaugh’s Show Be Pulled From American Forces Network (by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress)
Female Veterans Call For Military Radio Channel To Drop Rush Limbaugh After 'Slut' Remark (by Max J. Rosenthal, Huffington Post)
Staged Teleconference
Allison Barber, who served as director of the AFIS (see her biography below for more information), was criticized by some for her approach to public relations. A 2005 teleconference between President George W. Bush and troops serving in Iraq came under fire for the perceived extent to which it was rehearsed.
Bush Teleconference with Soldiers Staged (by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press)
Bush accused of staging chat with troops (by Jamie Wilson, The Guardian)
Support Our Props (Center for Media Democracy)
Fundraising for a Private Foundation
A May 12, 2007, article in The New York Times stated that the Defense Department inspector general was “examining whether officials who run ‘America Supports You,’ a three-year-old Pentagon program lauded by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, helped arrange a fund-raiser for a private foundation set up last December by former Bush administration appointees.” Pentagon officials are prohibited from fundraising for private entities, according to a Department of Defense spokesman. Money may also have been illegally funneled through Stars and Stripes for public relations purposes by then-AFIS Director Allison Barber, who headed up the program. It was determined that she funneled $8.8 million in contracts to the Susan Davis International public relations firm, which used the money to pay their executives between $312,000 and $662,000 a year. When AFIS transitioned into the DMA in 2008, the agency’s Deputy Assistant Secretary Brian Whitman removed “America Supports You” from its PR program because “it is not of the same 'nature' as other external information programs.”
Pentagon Opens Inquiry of Troop-Support Group (by David S. Cloud, New York Times)
Military Paper Challenges Defense Dept. (by Sarah Abruzzese, New York Times)
Stripes part of America Supports You audit (by Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes)
Pentagon Co-opted Independent Military Newspaper for PR Campaign Pushing Bush’s War Policies (blog, Think Progress)
“Patriotic” Pro-Troop Group Pocketed the Big Bucks (AllGov)
Pentagon Pro-Troop Group Misspent Millions, Report Says (by Noah Shachtman, Danger Room)
Religious Entertainment
“America Supports You” also came under fire for its affiliation with an “evangelical entertainment troupe” called Operation Straight Up.
Kill or Convert, Brought To You By The Pentagon (by Max Blumenthal, The Nation)
Improper Internal Controls
The lack of consistent AFIS leadership harmed morale and contributed to “improper internal controls,” according to a memo written by the Defense Department inspector general.
IG calls for more distance between AFIS, DOD public affairs (by Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes)
DoD to consolidate all media activities
(by William H. McMichael, Army Times)
Against - Non-Partisan
American Forces Radio and Television Service (Source Watch)
America Supports You (Source Watch)
For - From the Right
Captured al Qaida Documents Detail Shift in Support, an example of an American Forces Press Service story that has been reproduced as news on a conservative Web page.
Allison Barber (2003-2008)
Biography (AllGov)
America Supports You head Allison Barber leaving DOD (Stars and Stripes)
J. Dorrance Smith
J. Dorrance Smith, who was Allison Barber’s former boss, has also stoked controversy. He has a reputation in some circles for being a Republican loyalist, particularly when it came to the administration of George W. Bush. Bush first instated Smith in his post through a recess appointment on January 4, 2006; Smith’s original nomination had been stalled since September 2005 over an opinion piece he had written for The Wall Street Journal. In the piece, he criticized major U.S. television networks and the Qatari government for cooperating with the Al Jazeera network in showing graphic battlefield footage.
“Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and al-Qaida have a partner in Al Jazeera and, by extension, most networks in the U.S.,” Smith wrote in the op-ed titled “The Enemy On Our Airwaves.” “This partnership is a powerful tool for the terrorists in the war in Iraq.”
Without Senate approval, Smith’s appointment would have ended in January 2007. The nomination was confirmed by the Senate anyway on April 7, 2006. Smith replaced Victoria Clarke, who had vacated the position in June 2003. He left the position in October 2007.
Advance Questions for Mr. J. Dorrance Smith (from Smith’s Senate confirmation hearing) (pdf)
Senate Democrats grill Defense nominee (by Megan Scully, Congress Daily)
Pentagon Widens Its Battle to Shape News of Iraq War (by David S. Cloud and Thom Shanker, New York Times)
- Table of Contents
- Overview
- History
- What it Does
- Where Does the Money Go
- Controversies
- Suggested Reforms
- Comments
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