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Summer 2009
From the Chair
New members
Sci Comm news
Eurochat
Feature: The day CERN was more popular than NASA
Feature: Biding time
Feature: The importance
of good design
Feature: From around the world
Event Report: The
numbers game
Event Report: When lives are on the line
Event Report: The new media officers
Event Report: Achieving global coverage
Interview: Ian Sample,
The Guardian
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Stempra newsletter
EVENT REPORT: Crisis management, when lives are on the line
Speaker: Simon MacDowall, Director of Communications and Marketing at HM Revenue & Customs
Many of us experience crises from time to time, but in his years as Communications Director in the Ministry of Defence, Simon MacDowall faced one every few days; and not simply broken embargoes or spokespeople running late for interviews...
From the capture of Royal Marines by Iran to a plane disappearing off radar in Canada, ‘so far north the compass points west’, each situation throws up new challenges. And each of Simon’s stories held a lesson for controlling a crisis in the media.
No two crises are the same and often the media are a step ahead, coming to you before you’ve established exactly what is happening on the ground. When things move this fast it is crucial that you understand the exact nature of the crisis – often not what the papers are saying but the motivation behind the reporting. Responding to reporting without this understanding will not put you in a position to control the story. The recent MP expenses scandal is a perfect example of this responding to the question at hand while ignoring the reason for, and failing to address, the public outrage.
He outlined the following rules for crisis handling, and suggested relationship building during quieter times too:
Ground truth. Cutting through rumour and misinformation can be tricky, particularly when trying to work around a chain of command. In calmer times you should work on good relations with colleagues, contacts, sources so you can go to them for ground truth in a crisis.
Gradually escalate. Don’t wheel out the big guns at the beginning; you’ll achieve more impact if you save the big cheese until later, although given that each situation is different you may overrule this in certain breaking crises.
Holding responses. It is possible, if you have good relationships with media under normal circumstances, to ask them to wait while you gather information. You must think about the impression you’re trying to create – will it be OK to admit you don’t have all the information? You do not need to respond immediately to a reporter. But if you say you’ll get back in two hours, do!
Fill the void. In the 24 hour news climate reporters are under increasing pressure to find new comments, statements, images and headlines. This is not your problem and you can give a holding response; for example, saying you cannot comment until later on when you have all the information you need. You can fill the vacuum however with an angle that may not reveal more information but will provide the ‘new’ element that the newsdesk is craving. This stops reporters clawing around for information you may not want them to have – in life or death situations. During the hunt for the lost plane a press conference was organised with search equipment laid out for film crews and spokespeople talking through the kit, meaning media were occupied with new news while the real search continued.
Planning. From educating colleagues on the speed with which a story can move in order to ensure they respond, to you quickly to having a list of ‘need to know’ contacts who should be in the loop, planning is your best weapon. As we already know, no two situations are the same, but planning and educating in non-crisis times will make you more effective when it all goes wrong.
In your quiet times you can be working to ensure that you plan for situations, although no amount of planning means the reality will be easy. It is vital that you use quieter times to build relationships – internally, externally and at all levels so the information comes to you when you really need it.
After outlining the ‘rules’, Simon stayed to chat to a room full of eager-to-learn press officers. Many of us gained not only from his insights during the talk but from one to one conversations delving further into the issues.
Ruth Francis
Head of Press, Nature Publishing Group
and Stempra committee member
Ruth@stempra.org.uk
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