Megan Alexander

Mass Communication Specialists (MC) write and produce print and broadcast journalism news and feature stories for military and civilian newspapers, magazines, television, and radio broadcast stations. They record still and video photography of military operations, exercises, and other Navy events. MCs also create graphics in support of the public affairs mission, create and manage official websites, and perform high-speed, high-volume graphic reproduction. They serve overseas, on ships, and at stateside commands as photographers, public affairs specialists, newspaper and magazine staff, and TV and radio station staff. Examine personal relationships and communication habits to identify best methodologies; identify interpersonal communication behaviors; apply general communication principles to interpersonal contexts; develop and demonstrate effective listening skills; assess cultural and political factors affecting relationships; utilize transactional model of communication; define and explain the basic elements of news and how news gets to the public; discuss and successfully demonstrate the tools used by public relations practitioners in media relations; explain, discuss, and critique the methods public relations practitioners use to help reporters meet their objectives; discuss why it is important to have a good relationship with the media and how to achieve that goal; successfully demonstrate the verbal and non-verbal techniques used by public relations practitioners to enhance credibility and communication; successfully demonstrate media coaching techniques; define functionality of various social media platforms; identify target audiences with each platform; develop social media marketing, goals, and objectives; create and execute a social media plan; review and report social media analytics; design, create, and develop social media content; understand, discuss, and critique what a crisis is, its various forms, and how crises differ from other organizational events; demonstrate tools used by public relations practitioners; develop and use communication strategies; develop spokesperson skills; counsel senior leaders; explain and discuss managing uncertainty, effective leadership, and communicating ethically during a crisis; develop and produce content across media platforms; deliver product on time; demonstrate and conduct training with emerging software; demonstrate proficiency with production hardware and software; conceive and design multimedia strategies incorporating computer graphics, text, animation, and audio and video; evaluate the effectiveness of multimedia products; define, plan, and conduct a campaign; develop public relations materials for a campaign; plan and implement basic research; read and interpret research data as they apply to campaigns; develop positive teamwork skills; practice the systematic process of communication; and develop and apply evaluation and measurement techniques for campaigns.