How to Manage Media Relations - An Analysis (part 12 - Conclusion)

Crisis Planning (part B)

by

Charles Lamson

Things to Do During a Crisis

While there are countless ways to develop plans for dealing with the media (and other constituencies) during a crisis, you must have or know how to get the appropriate information about people, policies and events inside and outside of your organization. You must always be proactive.

1. Know who is in charge. Long before any crisis hits, there should be a clearly defined chain of command. The person in charge is not always the CEO or the company attorney or the media spokesperson. The person in charge is the coordinator of the many other people who are in charge of their responsibilities, from security to rescue, legal issues to media statements employee evacuation to employee notification. Make sure everyone knows who is in charge.
2. Know who has the information. Information exists by department, by type of crisis, by need to know, by the public's desire to know, by federal or state regulations. Make a list of the types of information needed and where it will have been stored in anticipation of a crisis.
3. Know who will speak on behalf of the organization. The person in charge may also be the spokkesperson but the spokesperson does not always have to be the person in charge. Whoever speaks to the public must be knowledgeable, clm, careful with words, optimistic. Selection of the "crisis" spokesperson should be done, if possible, long before a crisis hits.
4. Understand the feeding needs of the media. Media reporting on your crisis will want facts when you do not have them, numbers when you cannot speculate, estimates of damage that are not yet available. And they will want them NOW. Give whatever you have: number of employees, list of products, the count of employees who have checked in, the offers of assistance you have received. In testimoney a fter Hurricane Katrina, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency stated that one of his big mistakes was in not giving enough briefings to the media about his agency's actvities before, during and after the hurricane landing. Too late. In the absence of information, he and the FEMA agency were severely chastised for not responding quickly enough to the crisis.
5. Understand that "first beats better." In the mad scramble to feed the dozens---hundreds---of news media who come down on a crisis, there is little effort to corroborate eyewitness accounts, rumors, innuendos or speculation. "In a crisis, accuracy falls victim to speed every time. The victory goes to he who 'breaks' the story; who gets there before everybody else. If that means facts are slightly off or the wrong information is reported---so be it."
6. Monitor the media. Because the media are operating at mach speed during a crisis and are chasing all information, however incorrect it may be, it would be irresponsible to not pay attention to what is being said. "Monitoring the 'Net, the radio, cable, and the major media becomes a front-line crisis public relations responsibility."
7. Set up a plan for using your Web site during a crisis. Dee Rambeau of DVCO suggests setting up a "dark site," a Web page that is ready to go but is not yet online. The site can be loaded with content that would be of importance to the public and of interest to the media, and can be turned on when the crisis hits; use the media to direct the public to the site. If your site has a lot of regular exchange from customers, suppliers, shareholders, the public and other constituencies, it also can be a precursor to spotting potential crisis or issues that need attention.
8. Communicate with employees. Often the forgotten audience in a major crisis, employees can be your best line of defense and/or offense. "Acknowledge the scope of the disaster," and providing "truthful, sincere statements from top management even if that means admitting that plans for dealing with the crisis are still not finalized," will keep employees from speculating and spreading rumors. "It isn't business as usual, so companies really need to avoid pretending that it is."
9. Recognize that you have a potential problem. When the flames are visible, when the water is lapping at the door, it is easy to know you have a problem. It is not as easy when there are rumors of malfeasance, stories about an executive who has a severe drug problem or a stock price that starts to dip for no apparent reason. As an adviser to the senior staff and executives, you are the early warning system for potential problems. It might be a series of blogs discussing a report from an angry customer, or a reporter's story on lack of safety or security at your most important location---wherever it is, it is either going to be a problem, or already is a problem.
10. Be accessible. "Unfortunately, in a crisis, the first, and often overwhelming, reflex is to run and hide. You cannot dig that foxhole fast enough. In truth, though, it is really time to put down the shovel. As counter-intuitive as it may sound or feel, this is the time to be more accessible than ever with the media."

Lessons Learned

George Stephanopoulos, chief Washington correspondent for ABC News and long time adviser to President Bill Clinton, offered advice to political candidates running in the 2000 elections that applies equally well to organizations preparing crisis plans: "Know your weaknesses," he says. "Research all your own vulnerabilities before your enemies do." Most misconceptions begin with a certain element of truth. Look at how your policies and practices are perceived by others, especially those who are not admirers of your organization or industry. If there is even a hint of a scandal, heed the advice of veteran journalist Bob Woodward, who said it is imperative to release the facts as soon as possible lest questions harden into "a permanent state of suspicion and warfare." Ronald L. Levy, media expert and former president of North American Precis Syndicate, Inc., advises: "Be preemptive. The best time to avoid a fire or explosion in the plant---before it starts. Focus on the ultimate weapon of modern PR---the truth."

It is important that you and your management recognize that incomplete and sometimes inaccurate media coverage is inevitable during a crisis. Perhaps all you can realistically hope for when you are involved in negative news is that the media get most of the facts right and portray your organization as being concerned and actively involved in fixing what went wrong.

*SOURCE: ON DEADLINE: MANAGING MEDIA RELATIONS 4TH ED., 2006, CAROLE M. HOWARD AND WILMA K. MATHEWS, PGS. 187-190*

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