Page 90 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

Principles of Risk Communication 59

beliefs, and likely responses regarding an event or risk. Such informa-
tion may have been obtained through interviews, facilitated discussion
groups, information exchanges, expert availability sessions, public hear-
ings, advisory group meetings, hotline call-in logs, and surveys.
• Monitor and analyze information about the event appearing in media
outlets, including the Internet.
• Identify with the target audience of the media interview and present
information in a format that aids understanding and helps people to
act accordingly.
• During interviews and news conferences, acknowledge the validity of
people’s emotions and fears.
• Be empathetic.
• Target media channels that encourage listening, feedback, participa-
tion, and dialogue.
• Recognize that competing agendas, symbolic meanings, and broader
social, cultural, economic, or political considerations often complicate
the task of effective media communication.
• Recognize that although public health officials may speak in terms of
controlling “morbidity and mortality” rates, more important issues for
some audiences may be whether people are being treated fairly in terms
of access to care and medical resources.

Coordinate, Collaborate, and Act in Partnership
With Other Credible Sources
• Develop procedures for coordinating the activities of media spokesper-
sons from multiple agencies and organizations.
• Establish links to the Web sites of partner organizations.
• Recognize that every organization has its own culture and this culture
impacts upon how and what it tries to communicate.
• To the extent possible, act in partnership with other organizations in
preparing messages in advance of potential emergencies.
• Share and coordinate messages with partner organizations prior to
media interviews or news conferences.
• Encourage partner organizations to repeat or echo the same key mes-
sages; such repetition and echoing by many voices helps to reinforce the
key messages for target audiences.
• In situations involving multiple agencies, determine information clear-
ance and approval procedures in advance when possible.
• Aim for consistency of key messages across agencies; if real differences
in opinion do exist, be inclined to disclose the areas of disagreement and
explain why your agency is choosing one course of action over another.
• Develop a contingency plan for when partners cannot engage in con-
sistent messaging; be prepared to make an extra effort to listen to their