Page 80 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

Principles of Risk Communication 49

Step 3
The third step in message map construction is to analyze the lists of ques-
tions and concerns to identify common sets of concerns or categories of
questions and concerns. These might include categories of concern, such
as safety, control, economics, and accountability.

Step 4
The fourth step in message mapping is to develop key messages in
response to each stakeholder question or concern. Key messages should
be based on what the target audience most needs to know or most wants
to know.
Key messages are typically developed through brainstorming sessions
with a message mapping team. The message mapping team typically con-
sists of a subject matter expert, a communication specialist, a policy/legal/
management expert, and a facilitator. The brainstorming session produces
message narratives, usually in the form of complete sentences, which are
entered as abbreviated key messages onto the message map.
The brainstorming session can be used to produce keywords as a mem-
ory aid for the fully scripted key message. These keywords are then entered
onto the message map. Keywords are typically more easily accessed and
recalled by spokespeople than narratives and scripts. Most people have
difficulty memorizing or delivering scripts; however, they can deliver
agreed-upon key words using their own words to form whole sentences.
Construction of message maps is guided by the theories and principles
of risk communication. For example, mental noise theory indicates that
when people are upset, they often have difficulty hearing, understanding,
and remembering information. Mental noise can reduce a person’s ability
to process information by more than 80%. The challenge of mental noise
to message mapping is to (a) overcome the barriers that mental noise cre-
ates, (b) produce accurate messages for diverse audiences in diverse social
and cultural contexts, and (c) achieve maximum communication effec-
tiveness within the constraints posed by mental noise.
Risk communicators use a variety of means to overcome mental noise.
For example, they limit the number of key messages offered to typically no
more than three. They limit the amount of time and words used to express
their three key messages to typically no more than 9 seconds and 27 words.
They construct messages that are clearly understandable by the target
audience. For example, message maps produced for populations in highly
developed nations are typically constructed to be easily understood by an
adult with a sixth- to eighth-grade education. Message comprehension