Wanted by FBI: someone to rate news stories about the agency

Reuters

(Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to hire a contractor to grade news reports about the agency and brief staff on whether press coverage is favorable, an FBI spokeswoman confirmed on Wednesday. The FBI is seeking print, digital and broadcast news related to the agency to be summarized and interpreted, according to the Statement of Work document for the contract. The FBI would rate the reports "positive," "neutral" or "negative" and email the briefs to select FBI personnel on weekdays. "This news briefing service shall be broad in scope, comprehensive in nature, and shall allow FBI executives and other employees to keep current on media coverage of the FBI," the contracting document said. The contract solicitation was reported by the Washington Times newspaper this week. Monitoring would include the date, tonality, story focus, type of media outlet and overall impact of news coverage. The contract would run one to five years. The FBI plans for the daily news briefings to be broad in scope, covering counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, criminal investigations, cyber-investigation, intelligence, international relations and partnerships with law enforcement services. The contractor would also monitor media coverage of FBI personnel, FBI finance, and the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services. (Reporting by John Clarke in Annapolis, Maryland; Editing by Ian Simpson and Eric Walsh)