From my experience, especially within government relations and political PR, people only see the value of Public Relations when they have a crisis. At the same time, so many (untrained) Public Relations practitioners see their role as simply 'technical writers' (of press releases, articles, publicity materials etc (This is NOT PR. Those are merely tools of the Public Relations process) that they too are unaware of how to handle public relations in an emergency. Since public relations is about building and maintaing mutually benefocial relationships between and organisation and its publics on whom its sucess or failure depends (Cutlip & Centre, 2007), it is important for this relationship to be repaired when it naturally goes awry and is undermined in a crisis situation. Here are ten tips that a PR professional should so in an emergency.
1. Determine if there is need for a news and information centre. Only you can decide this. The nature of the crisis and the size of will help you to make this determination. The London bombings of July 2007 was a dramatic and extensive event and required a news outlet outfitted with telephones and other technology as well as a a place for reporters to sit and write. This news outfit will be a seperate space from where emergency workers are busy trying to bring the crisis under tecnical control. A news centre is one way of showing the public and the media that the organisation is cooperating and has a desire to be open. If the crisis does not require an information centre, then it is always advisable to have one or two direct lines where calls from the news media can be filtered.
2.Be Open with the media - I know this is hard for some organisations to understand. I give you an example. I had the opportunity of being trained in Crisis Management for the 200 Cricket World Cup (Caribbean). The training was carried out by the Public Affairs team of the Metropolitan Police (London) - same guys who so ably and professionally dealt with the Crisis Communication and Response during the London bombings. Later when I was participating in an open session, including Security Personnel from around the Caribbean, the question of the media came up. Shockingly, the crisis response of the Security Forces had the media as peripheral rather than central to effective crisis management. They did not realise that the management of information during a crisis was as equal as managing the crisis itself. The PR professional must be on hand to provide information to the media in as timely a manner as possible and in a way which secures and maintains the interests of their organisation. In this sense, the information centre requires not one but several able writers who are able to write and filter media releases, statements and update the company website etc as the information comes to hand.
3. Work with management to work out the content to be delivered to the emdia, and formulate responses to questions. Public Relations is, after all, a management function. This means it is management which will take policy decisions in the best interest of the organisation. The PR person is thus obliged to check with management to ensure that the text to be disemminated has the consensus of the management officials, and also work together with management to craft responses to questions from the media. It is here that the PR person effects his/her 'counselling' role, by ensuring that management is kept alert to the politics of media relations and responds in a way which retains the credibility of the organisation.
4. Work only with the approval of top management. This is a delicate issue,and often results in confusion and conflict as to the PR person's role. PR is a mangement function and so the facts to be given to press and the decisions to be made in a crisi belongs with top management. At the same time, top management must seek the advice of the PR counsellor to determine of their policy decisions are in line with the best interests of the organisation, and will retain favourable opinion among its publics.
5. Maintain close and constant contact with the media. They tend to know information you do not yet know. It is also important for your organisation to set the agenda. This means that you ought to be one providing the official information o the crisis and not allow space for rumours and falsehoods to become the story. The death of Pakistan's cricket coach, Bob Wolmer in Jamaica at the height of the World Cup, is one example of a situation where runours and falsehood dominated the agenda. The Jamaican government and the cricketing organisations lost control in the management of information during the crisis.
6. Know what facts you are giving out, and at what times. Each release, statement etc must not only be properly dated, but it is advisable to keep a log of when each was disemminated. In the panicked environment of a crisis, you want to be appear to be in control. This means getting your facts straight, preventing duplication of information and conflicting information. New developments will arise and you must ensure that the public is not confused.
7. Refrain from releasing names of victims before the families are notified. This is standard policing procedure but also relevant in a PR scenario. The media generally understands the nature of these things and are usually understanding and willing to wait. This display of professional courtesy and respect for the victims' families mainatins integrity for the organisation. Can you imagine hearing of a tragic death of a family member on the news first?
8. Confirm only definite information. This is information you know will not change. Accordimng to Newsome, Turk and Kruckeburg (2007, "If firefighters carry a victim from the plant in a bodybag and the reporter sees it, say only that one body has been recovered. DO NOT SAY that you 'dont know how many are dead"! They also advise not speculate about the cause of accidents, delays in shipment, layoffs etc. In short,'say no more than to confirm what is already known.
Finally, I borrow the following from the authors above. These fall under the heading 'Facts Desired but Not Necessarily Desirable to Give'.
1. Speculation about anything
2. Any delivery delays or such (Accentuate the positive as soon as you are sure)
3. How caused (Let city officials release this; chances are the story will die before report is completed).
Specific damage estimate as well as waht was destroyed. (This information might be extremely valuable to competitors).
For More, see This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations. Newsome et, al (2007).
Forthcoming in this Series: How to talk to the Media in a Crisis
