Anyone who has been interviewed about a crisis would like to tell the reporter everything is okay. It’s natural to want to minimize the situation. However, sooner or later the truth comes out and the situation develops another storyline: Your organization doesn’t tell the truth.
Normally the holidays are a time of slow news. Aside from the predictable live reports showing crowded airports, shoppers stampeding through stores and lousy weather there’s usually not much else going on. However, that wasn’t the case on December 20 when ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer interviewed three of the nation’s top intelligence officials about [...]
In a fast-breaking crisis, communicating early and often can link your stakeholders with your messages and establish your organization as a reliable source of verified information. However, traditional communications channels quickly become clogged with speculation, conjecture and rumors about your organization and how it is handling the crisis. That’s why the Crisis Communications Team Leader [...]
Did you ever wish something you said could be grabbed from the air before anyone heard it? From a high-ranking government official to the owner of a local car repair business no one is immune from misspeaking in an interview, especially in the high-pressure environment of a crisis. Thankfully, there are measures you can take [...]
From the world’s best golf professional to a politician to the director of a local charity, personalities at the top of their profession can engage in behavior that can damage or destroy their reputation and that of their organizations. Situations like these are some of the most difficult a communicator can face because they inevitably [...]
Just as a pilot needs accurate information to navigate through clouds a communicator needs accurate feedback to navigate through the fog of a crisis. For most crises, that information can be obtained through media monitoring. Media monitoring provides a look outside your organization to learn what people important to it – your stakeholders – are [...]
I wrote When the Balloon Goes Up: The Communicator’s Guide to Crisis Response primarily for public relations/communications professionals and students who need crisis-tested strategies and tactics. The book contains some theory but mostly nuts-and-bolts suggestions and ideas for building and implementing a crisis plan. It doesn’t matter what size your organization is, or what its [...]
