Text: Captain Kim Vibe Michaelsen, Leader SIM PRESS
Photo: Major Michael Christiansen, SPAO DATG

But during DANEX 07 the participants will also be trained in how to handle an interview situation.

– The press fills an increasingly large part of reality when military forces are in action and during the next weeks the participants of the exercise will feel this challenge on their own body, says Captain Kim Vibe Michelsen.

Two television crews – one from the Defence Media Center and one from the Army Operational Command – make up the exercise element Simulated Press – SIM PRESS – that operates from the British Navy ship HMS ALBION. From here they will go from ship to ship during the exercise and train the individual crew members in handling interview situations.

The starting points for the interviews are taken from the colourful exercise scenario that contains everything from fictive UN resolutions to suicide terrorists in fast motorboats. So there are plenty of subjects the fictive exercise press can pitch into.

– The press exercise is, however, not so much about getting the participants on thin ice, but to help them understand the written and unwritten rules when military personnel meets journalists, Kim Vibe Michelsen explaines.