Crisis Communications

Crisis is bad news. Bearers of bad news will face uphill difficulties to inform the persons involved.

When an incident has occurred and has relevance to public interest, the public has the right to hear of it. The media assumes the right to investigate, get the news and broadcast it to the public audience. Any one who opposes these rights will stand to be chastised. This is the first rule in crisis media handling.

When making public statements, whether in person or in writing, whatever is said is amplified by the media from one person to countless in the audience. Hence, one mistake, careless remark or a lie, or conversely a well-prepared message, could potentially be spread from one to millions. Once a message is released, public opinion is formed that would be detrimental or helpful to the organization. This is the second rule in crisis media handling.

Public opinion frequently favors the under-privileged or helpless victims against the perceived power of the large organizations. In communicating news of a disaster and unless the message is crafted prudently, there is tendency that every clear attempt at concealment will be put to harsh public light, every ambiguity or incorrect phrased news may be construed negatively and every favorable fact may be twisted into one of negative connotation. This human inclination to perceive meanings is the third rule in crisis media handling.

In the heat of a crisis, one may not yet have all facts or is hesitant because the news appears too gargantuan to release. To the world, this is perceived as reluctance on the part of the organization to making announcements. The public and media won't have understanding nor patience to wait. In such a situation, news will somehow surface but from unqualified or covert sources that will only aggravate matters for the organization. This fourth rule in crisis media handling is - give the news or the media may give you news. Bad accidents do occasionally still happen. Bad news is worse if they are mishandled.

The fifth rule in crisis media handling is this - the media need not be your adversary if they are not dealt with as adversaries. Treat the media with mutual respect. If you deal with them professionally and with courtesy, they can be on your side to report the facts in the best light.

There are many examples of well and also of poorly managed crisis media handling. A classic excellent case is the Johnson and Johnson's handling of the crisis case when cyanide was spiked into Tylenol tablets. The company enjoyed even greater customer confidence after the crisis was managed. On the other hand, one needs only to look around and find many stories of poor media handling that had put organizations into bad light or even forcing some to cease operations.

At JaBA, we provide training on two aspects: Media Handling Skills and Effective Presentation Skills.

JaBA Media Handling Skills training focuses on how one can work with the media as partners during crisis time, techniques in conducting press conference in person and on television, handling media questions, and preparing written news releases. Training will involve video filming to enable participants realize weak areas to be worked on. The training is based on the curriculum of Media Training Worldwide, USA. See link below.

JaBA Presentation Skills Training imparts the ability to understand the audience’s needs, prepare the message in a manner to connect with them, to deliver that message in an interesting and succinct manner such that the audience will understand and remember the message, take actions as required of them and then even to spread the message to others. In doing all these, the presenter is able to switch from between delivery and response modes so that a two-way communication channel is created.

Skillful crisis media handling requires the organization's spokesperson to be able to work with the media and to present facts and information in an unobtrusive manner. Poor media handling can agitate adverse public opinion that could be irrecoverable. Although a disaster cannot be reversed, skillful media handling can prevent it from worsening and to win public sympathy.