Mark Basnight

Mark Basnight, Public Information Officer

2009-07-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

A 26-year veteran of the Charlotte Fire Department, Mark is a Public Information Officer assigned to the Office of Media & Public Affairs. In addition to his responsibilities for media and public affairs, Mark serves as co-website manager for content & design, and co-host of the Internet based CFD Talk Radio show. He is also responsible for the research, development, and application of social media technology. Mark serves as Chair of the Department of Homeland Security Virtual Social Media Working Group and a Disaster Response Public Affairs Officer for the American Red Cross.

Basnight has been a keynote speaker and panelist in national forums on the subject matters of social media, crisis & risk communications. Basnight says "I'm most proud of making popular the phrases "The message hasn't changed, the way we communicate has" and "social media cross pollination".

Email: mbasnight@ci.charlotte.nc.us

2009-07-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Charlotte Fire Department’s mission is to preserve life and property through rapid emergency response, code enforcement, education and planning.

The Charlotte Fire Department currently makes use of several social media/ web 2.0 applications including Twitter, Yahoo Groups (After-Action Reports), Google Groups (CharlotteFD_ALERT), BlogSpot (CFD News & Information), FriendFeed, LiveJournal, MyBlogLog, Blog Talk Radio, Delicious, and Facebook for communicating critical messaging and public information that promotes a safe and healthy lifestyle. The Charlotte Fire Department also uses Google Translator to translate our blog content into various foreign languages such as Spanish, Italian, French, Vietnamese, Chinese and others. ‘Flip’ video and digital cameras are used to produce video clips and photos which are posted on YouTube and Flickr respectively. CFD utilizes Skype video conferencing to conduct live media interviews and press briefings.

Mark Basnight | Captain
Public Information Officer

Office of Media & Public Affairs
Charlotte Fire Department

Schedule/ Itinerary

2009-07-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

May @ 2011 NAGC Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota
June @ 2011 National Urban Area Security Initiative Conference, San Francisco, CA

June @ 2011 SEFCA Leadership Conference, Montgomery, AL

Aug. @ 2011 National Information Officers Association Conference, Phoenix, AZ

Aug. @ 2011 Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference and Expo

Oct. @ 2011 PRSA International Conference, Orlando, FL
Nov. @ CSEPP Advanced Public Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Course