Oakland’s fire department has a secret weapon — a candid spokesperson

To cowl metropolis authorities, The Oaklandside journalists typically want paperwork, information and data from metropolis businesses – and to serve our readers, we want them to reply our questions shortly. Usually our first cease is an company’s public info officer. Some are able to serve the general public and get solutions to our questions immediately. Some appear to see it as their job to guard their freedom of selection by blocking our requests.

Frankly, this may be a part of a communications skilled’s position, particularly throughout a disaster. However for too many PIOs, it turns into the principle focus: slowing down the press as we search for factual info to share with the general public. They grow to be gatekeepers, stopping the press and public from studying concerning the actions of their authorities and its elected or appointed leaders.

Some PIOs work otherwise and embody the spirit of public service and transparency that higher serves the individuals they serve. Michael Hunt, chief of workers and spokesperson for the Oakland Hearth Division since 2019, has a observe report of working on this approach.

“I believe some individuals are embracing an adversarial relationship that does not must be there,” he stated of working communications for a serious authorities company. “I believe typically individuals overlook that it is a two-way avenue.”

Hunt has 12 years of expertise in native and nationwide communications earlier than becoming a member of OFD. He beforehand labored for former mayors Ron Dellums and Libby Schaaf, in addition to former Metropolis Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. He additionally served as communications director for the Iowa Democratic Occasion throughout former President Barack Obama’s reelection marketing campaign.

“He has a deep information of town having labored underneath a number of mayoral administrations,” stated Azucena Rasilla, arts and neighborhood reporter for The Oaklandside.

Lately, Oaklandside reporters have contacted Hunt for a variety of tales, together with the 2024 Keller Hearth, the long-awaited Vegetation Administration Plan, the reopening of three hearth stations, a sequence of suspicious fires alongside Interstate 580, unlawful fireworks shows and a sit-down interview with Hearth Chief Damon Covington.

Hunt has additionally supplied our reporters with uncommon entry whereas breaking tales.

Whereas driving by West Oakland a number of years in the past, information editor Darwin BondGraham recalled seeing a plume of black smoke rising from the homeless encampment on Wooden Avenue. When he arrived on the scene, he noticed unhoused residents dashing to save lots of their belongings as firefighters doused flames on the timbers of an previous railroad trestle.

That is when BondGraham stated Hunt observed him and instantly began sharing what he knew concerning the hearth. Main him underneath the police tape, Hunt guided BondGraham by the origins of the hearth and the way firefighters extinguished it.

“I by no means felt like we have been strolling into an unsafe space, however the behind-the-lines entry and candor have been exemplary,” BondGraham stated.

In an interview with The Oaklandside, Hunt stated he prioritizes being quick and responsive.

“I think about myself on name 24/7, particularly since I work for an company that responds to calls all day, all evening, twelve months a yr,” he stated.

One purpose the newsroom has appreciated Hunt’s strategy is his willingness to choose up the cellphone. Many PIOs talk nearly completely through e mail. Hunt simply makes and solutions calls from reporters, an old school strategy that makes information gathering quicker and extra correct.

Along with responding to media inquiries, Hunt manages these of the hearth division Facebook, InstagramAnd Tweet accounts. He recurrently posts photographs and movies of firefighters hosing down a burning constructing or partaking with households at neighborhood occasions, and gives detailed summaries of incidents to which OFD and MACRO have responded.

“It is a very compelling strategy to showcase the day-to-day actions of this hard-working, devoted and busy hearth division,” he stated.

“He’s natural in conversations, texting anecdotes that will or might not be related to the reporting,” stated Natalie Orenstein, who covers housing, homelessness and metropolis corridor for The Oaklandside.

Hunt’s strategy to the job, which embraces transparency, contrasts with the expertise reporters typically have with different spokespersons.

It’s not uncommon for our emails and cellphone calls to go unanswered. That is why readers will typically see a remark in our tales that an official or authorities company “failed to reply.” (In conditions the place a PIO is fielding many calls or has not had sufficient time to contact us, we regularly write that she didn’t “reply instantly.”)

In different instances, the solutions are well timed, however comprise obscure written statements that don’t reply particular questions and as an alternative parrot irrelevant subjects of dialog. Currently, a number of the commonest offenders are expertise firms and businesses throughout the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety.

One other troubling apply happens after we request interviews with authorities officers, solely to be instructed by a PIO that the official doesn’t need to discuss to the media. As an alternative, the PIO sends a written assertion attributed to not the official, however to an unnamed “spokesman” of the company.

The result’s that nobody takes duty for the data or place introduced.

When requested why this occurs, Hunt stated some PIOs misunderstand the position of the press or view journalists as adversaries.

In keeping with Hunt, that relationship additionally implies that we maintain one another accountable. Simply as journalists press PIOs for solutions, PIOs ought to let reporters know when incorrect or incomplete info is being supplied to the general public.

“You have got a duty to carry them accountable, simply as they’ve a duty to carry your division accountable,” he stated.

Hunt’s recommendation to fellow PIOs: Proactively construct good working relationships with reporters. Do not solely attain out when there’s essential information, and do not await journalists to name earlier than offering info. Pitching tales, he stated, can enhance credibility and assist journalists produce higher, extra full tales.

“There must be a shared understanding of one of the simplest ways to work collectively,” he stated.

Hunt additionally brings a way of humanity to his position. Through the years, Hunt has taken his son Myles, now 6, to fires and different occasions, giving him a firsthand have a look at how Oakland firefighters work.

Hunt stated his strategy to his work displays his love for town.

“I really feel uniquely privileged to work within the metropolis I like, the place I stay, the place I’m elevating my son and the place I’ll doubtless die,” he stated. “When individuals say, ‘What’s subsequent?’ I am like, ‘Nothing, that is it. I would not do that work wherever else.’”