Lt. Gen. William Caldwell is trying to change the military mindset when it comes to dealing with the news media.

“Our culture says the press is nothing but an absolute annoyance,” Caldwell said. “Therefore, the very time when we probably should be giving the press access we are, in fact, doing the exact opposite.”

Caldwell, commander of Fort Leavenworth, spoke last week to 10 journalists from around the country attending a media-military workshop set up by Kansas University’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Army, and paid for with a McCormick Foundation grant.

Caldwell once served as spokesman for multinational forces in Iraq. He described it as a life-altering experience and one that changed his view of journalists for the better. He said he was especially impressed with the journalists who lived with the troops and endured the same hardships and dangers the troops faced.

Military officers going through the Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth now must work on their media skills. In order to graduate, the officers have to do each of the following: blog, participate in a media interview, write for a publication or do a public speaking engagement.

Caldwell thinks that once the officers flex their media skills they will find it is not such a bad thing.

“Therefore, they graduate and take that back to their units and maybe change that culture that I’ve grown up with for 31 years,” Caldwell said.