Marauder to go Web based March 2

  • Published
  • By 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall --  Beginning March 2, news about the people and mission at RAF Mildenhall will be just a click away.

As the Air Force continues to use technology to become more efficient, the 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office is preparing to make the leap from a weekly magazine to an entirely web-based product that allows people to access information about RAF Mildenhall from anywhere around the globe.

"We're looking forward to the change," said Capt. Jamie Humphries, director of public affairs for RAF Mildenhall. "We'll be able to post information in real time rather than waiting for the magazine to come out each Friday."

The staff of the Marauder is currently working on the base's public Web site, located at http://www.mildenhall.af.mil/, to make it as user friendly as possible while still including magazine favorites like "The Misadventures of Airman Dufflebag," "Marauder Spotlight" and "Things to do in the UK".

The move comes as part of a directive from Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs for base PA offices to migrate to an online-only product, enabling news to become timelier.
Healeys Printers, the contractor currently responsible for publishing both the Marauder and RAF Lakenheath's Jet 48, is developing a joint hard-copy publication using stories from both RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath's public Web sites.

Capt. Humphries said the Feb. 23 issue will be the last the Marauder staff lays out and designs.

"Converting from the Marauder to a Web-based publication is a big change for us," Capt. Humphries said, "but we have a great relationship with our publisher, and we're confident they'll continue to support us by providing an excellent hard-copy product."

The change is a cultural one, and it doesn't only affect those who put the Marauder together. It also affects those who read it. News and photos of the people at RAF Mildenhall will become available on a daily basis.

"We're really looking at this as an opportunity to provide the base community with more than they are accustomed to getting," said Geoff Janes, Marauder editor. "In a traditional newspaper or magazine, advertising sales dictate available editorial space. Although we will still have some restrictions, we're going to be able to use more photos and stories. The biggest plus is that we'll be able to put our stories online daily."

The Air Force announced the change in how bases will deliver news Nov. 7 on its Web site, www.af.mil. The move to a Web-only product meets several goals of public affairs, said a top Air Force public affairs officer.

"A Web-based information-delivery system provides a number of benefits," said Brig. Gen. Michelle Johnson, director of Air Force Public Affairs. Among them: posting news releases in real time; providing access to home-station news from deployed locations; and using the same delivery system at home and while deployed, the general said.

A reduction of 200 positions in the 800-strong public affairs career field drives the change, but news will get to people faster under the new policy.

Public Affairs staffers and other news producers will instantly post stories, photographs and artwork to their unit's public Web site rather than waiting for a weekly publication to hit the streets.

"With the new Web management system, we can post content to Air Force Web sites within eight minutes," said Chief Master Sgt. Janice Conner, the Air Force Public Affairs enlisted career field manager. "This decreases the time between when an article is complete and when it's released from three to 10 days to within minutes."

The new way is mirroring what civilian news media are already doing. More people are turning to the Internet for their news.

Fewer Air Force people are picking up their base newspaper weekly; surveys have shown the number of people who read every issue fell from 57 percent in 1994 to 38 percent in 2004.

The Air Force policy was developed by a working group using Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century principles. The group was chartered by Air Force Public Affairs to determine the best way to deliver Air Force news in view of personnel reductions.

The group determined that each Air Force newspaper cost about 40 man-hours per week in page design and approval, making newspaper production a target for work savings. Eliminating the weekly product allows a staff to devote time to producing more and better news coverage, the group concluded.