Page 144 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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Negative Press and How to Deal with It 125
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you far in fostering goodwill in a difficult situation. Even if you have
to admit errors, that is sometimes better than ignoring a group or
situation. Build confidence by setting a proactive course of action
and then articulating that to the media and key audiences.
If appropriate, request a meeting with the management of the
news organization. If you have attempted to cooperate with the
reporter but sense that you are not getting your message across,
pursue a meeting with the management of the publication before
the story breaks to make certain that your facts are being under-
stood and conveyed.
Once you know that a bad story will run, communicate with your
close audiences in advance of its publication. Examples may be
employees, customers, board members and shareholders. Decide
if you want to notify any or all of these groups that a potential story
is being developed and articulate the issues to be raised and the
company response. The key is to maintain control of the message.
This will prevent important audiences from being blindsided and
enable them to be armed with the company response. If you
decide to do this, avoid e-mail communication.
Consider working with another, competing outlet to get your story
across. If one news group has a bias against your company and you
know that a negative story is coming, contact a competing publica-
tion that will be more open to your side of the story. This strategy
can significantly defuse the negative piece, especially if the article
that you plan appears first.
Prepare communication for key groups to be distributed as soon as
the story appears. Review the article and determine how you will
react. This may include sending a letter to key audiences, posting a
response on your website, or calling important customers to advise
them of your company’s response.
Prepare company employees for an onslaught of calls from cus-
tomers, vendors or others. Develop an internal routing system for
calls and decide who will respond and how. Make certain that the
person chosen is prepared with talking points.
Prepare for other news outlets to call. Journalists follow one
another with coverage. Make certain that you are prepared to
respond to other reporters who will pick up the story once it
appears. Maintain consistent messages throughout your commu-
nication with journalists.
Pull objective sources into interviews. If you have customers,
shareholders or business associates who will vouch for your
company’s integrity, it may be helpful to suggest that reporters
interview these people.