Page 88 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

Principles of Risk Communication 57

• Agree with the reporter in advance on logistics and topic, for example,
the length, location, and specific topic of the interview, but realize that
the reporter may attempt to stray from the agreed topic.
• Make needed changes in strategy and messages based on monitoring
activities, evaluation efforts, and feedback.
• Work proactively to frame stories rather than waiting until others have
defined the story and then reacting.
• Carefully evaluate media communication efforts and learn from
mistakes.
• Share with others what you have learned from working with the media.

Meet the Functional Needs of the Media
• Assess the needs of the media.
• Be accessible to reporters.
• Respect their deadlines.
• Accept that news reports will simplify and abbreviate your messages.
• Devise a schedule to brief the media regularly during an emergency,
even if updates are not newsworthy by their standards; open and regular
communication helps to build trust and fill information voids.
• Refer journalists to your Web site for further information.
• Share a limited number of key messages for media interviews.
• Repeat your key messages several times during news conferences and
media interviews.
• Provide accurate, appropriate, and useful information tailored to the
needs of each type of media, such as sound bites, background videotape,
and other visual materials for television.
• Provide background material for reporters on basic and complex issues
on your Web site and as part of media information packets and kits.
• Be careful when providing numbers to reporters; these can easily be
misinterpreted or misunderstood.
• Stick to the agreed topic during the interview; do not digress.
• If you do not know the answer to a question, focus on what you do know,
tell the reporter what actions you will take to get an answer, and follow
up in a timely manner.
• If asked for information that is the responsibility of another individual
or organization, refer the reporter to that individual or organization.
• Offer reporters the opportunity to do follow-up interviews with subject-
matter experts.
• Strive for brevity, but respect the reporter’s desire for information.
• Hold media-availability sessions where partners in the response effort
are available for questioning in one place at one time.