Page 143 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 124 Crisis Communication
serious the issue will be in advance of publication. Assessing the
severity of a story can help you to counteract its impact. You can spot a
particularly negative story by:

The type of questions that reporters ask your company. Are they
investigative in nature? Are the reporters relying on other
sources? Do they cite comments that others have made about your
company – on or off the record? Have they researched previous
coverage about your organization or asked to see documents?
The numbers of times that the reporter calls you. Does he or she
call back to check facts? Do the calls come over a series of days or
weeks? The more time expended by the reporter, the more signif-
icant you can expect the story to be.
Has the reporter called others to dig more deeply? If your direc-
tors, shareholders or customers have also been questioned, the
story is likely to be less than positive.

If you perceive that a negative story is coming up, it is essential to
examine the potential impact and plan a response before the story
appears. The first step is to consider the reach of the news outlet. Who
is likely to read or watch a negative story in this publication or on this
channel? Is it a weekly newspaper or the International Herald Tribune?
Is it likely to be a one-day news story or a series of stories? Is it a piece
that will appear during prime time newscasts and be recounted on the
internet, or is it for a targeted trade article? Once the story breaks, is it
likely to spawn follow-up coverage from other outlets?
Understanding the parameters of the coverage and the credibility
of the outlet will enable you to appropriately assess the extent to which
you should respond to audiences of utmost importance.

No ostriches need apply

Once you recognize that a negative story is clearly being developed,
don’t put your head in the sand – as tempting as that response may
seem at the time. Before a negative story breaks, a lack of action always
seems to be the most attractive course. It’s tempting to wait and see
just how bad the story is or to hope and pray that the whole mess will
go away somehow. Instead, carefully assess the potential impact of the
coverage and then consider a possible course of action by:

Determining and then communicating meaningful actions. Again,
your company’s efforts to make amends or fix a problem can take