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Spring 2008
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Stempra newsletter
EVENT REPORT: Crisis management - Food and Mouth disease outbreak Speaker: Matt Goode, Head of Media at the BBSRC In most press offices, with a steady stream of requests from journalists, papers to publicise and press releases to write, there is barely enough time in the day to keep up. There is rarely time to consider planning for the future, and planning for a major crisis is usually bottom of the list of things to do. Yet the unexpected can happen, and as Matt Goode from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) found out, having some idea of how you handle that "it'll never happen to us" crisis can make a major difference. BBSRC is the main UK funding agency for research and training in the life sciences, investing over £380M a year in bioscience. It is the body behind leading research institutes such as the Babraham Institute, Rothamsted Research, the Institute of Food Research, the John Innes Centre and the Institute for Animal Health. In common with many organisations BBSRC has given some thought to how it would respond to media demands in the event of a crisis. However, as of summer 2007, planning had not got beyond collating senior staff out of hours contacts and media office staff attending training courses. But at that time nobody could have predicted the turn of events in early August 2007 which would test BBSRC's media staff and systems to their limits. With the news of an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Surrey, scientists at the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) at Pirbright were quickly involved in a round the clock operation; testing samples, informing Defra and gearing up to brief the media. However, in a dramatic and unexpected twist of events IAH Pirbright itself hit the headlines when Institute scientists informed Defra that the strain of FMD involved in the outbreak was a laboratory strain that had not circulated in the wild for 40 years. Inevitably this happened late on a Saturday afternoon. BBSRC, as the sponsoring body behind IAH, found themselves stepping in to provide communications support for the Institute. Acting as the media office for IAH and BBSRC, the Research Council was inundated with calls from journalists across world. Matt Goode, Head of Media at the BBSRC, had to deal with these calls and found himself at the centre of one of the summer's highest profile but potentially most negative science stories. The story presented many unique challenges. IAH is not the only occupant of the Pirbright site; they share it with the animal vaccine company Merial Animal Health. Initially the media focused on IAH only and needed briefing that there were two facilities on the site. Later, when reports were clearer that either laboratory could have been the source of the outbreak journalists attempted to play each organisation off each other. On top of this, the nature of the FMD diagnostic work by IAH scientists and the need to feed information to Defra meant details as they emerged were often sketchy or were not ready to be released on a timetable that suited the 24-hour rolling news agenda. Some journalists were also demonstrating high levels of initiative. Matt had to deal with reports from IAH security that journalists posing as Defra officials were trying to gain access to the site. Other media posing as IAH staff were trying to obtain information from Government sources. The unexpected consequence of this was that Matt was not able to reach the Head of News at Defra at one critical moment as Defra press office refused to believe he was him. The level of interest from the media was understandably extremely high. For one week in August Pirbright and FMD was the only story. For the whole week of the crisis Matt was the only media contact at IAH and was relying on the dedication of reception staff to take media calls. High levels of calls and stretched resources meant Matt had to prioritise response to calls. His policy was to keep key UK national media and key stakeholder media, such as the local Pirbright newspaper, as well informed as possible and to return other calls in the order they came in. Establishing and maintaining constructive relationships with the local and regional media was a priority with the consideration that once the national media eventually moved on, IAH would need to build and maintain trust and support in the local community. With a sensitive, multifaceted and fast moving story one-on-one interviews by senior IAH staff were deliberately limited. One local newspaper reporter was given an hour of exclusive briefing and access to help ensure local residents got a clear picture of events and a regional TV crew were given access to see biosecurity measures firsthand. Much of the media tone was shaped by the involvement of political correspondents who had little prior knowledge of FMD, BBSRC or IAH. Matt worked hard to ensure that the outlets which placed science correspondents on the story through the week were given priority responses. There are many things that Matt thinks was important for their communications during this time. Firstly, was to make sure all staff at IAH's Pirbright site were well informed about what was going on. Staff morale was generally high but there was understandable resentment at all levels at the lab being placed under media siege. Another thing was that Matt stayed at IAH where he could go outside and speak to the journalists who were reporting from the scene. He points out that if he saw something being reported incorrectly he could go and chat to the journalist concerned about the facts. Manpower was definitely an issue. When all the phones are ringing, briefing information needs gathering and information is constantly coming in, it is important to have as many pairs of hands available as possible. It is also important for someone to be monitoring media output and to be making decisions about strategy. Matt suggests that organisations think about who they can sequester into their communications departments in the event of a crisis, perhaps other experienced press officers from sister organisations. They should also try to make time for planning strategy for worst case scenarios, even very basic measures like making sure that heads of organisations are always contactable or that there is a deputy that is media trained. It is also crucial to gain the trust and respect of senior members of staff, it is important to have their backing when making quick decisions on how to work with the media. Speed is vital as well, it is important to get information out to journalists quickly, and this often means having things signed off quickly by as few senior people as possible. If journalists are getting their facts from the organisations involved in the crisis, it will help them be sympathetic to the organisation. All in all, any sort of communications plan is helpful but the more planning that is done in advance the more likely a positive outcome. Dr Claire Bithell
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