By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC
People love to hate the media, especially when the media are covering a crisis at your company.
“The media are just going to write what they want,” is a common refrain we hear from corporate leaders.
But is that really true?
The reality is the media can be controlled. There are ways to make them write what you want them to write.
How do you achieve this?
Speed is the number one rule for controlling the narrative written by the media. You have to move at the speed of social media. Mobile phones have turned every adult into an eyewitness to your crisis event. Everyone with a phone is eager to capture a picture or a video, then post it to social media, hoping to be “Insta-famous.”
If the media’s first perception of your crisis is what they see on social media, those eyewitnesses are setting the narrative that the media will follow. It’s not that the media are operating with bias. The trouble is you haven’t told them your side of the story if a fast, powerful and accurate way.
During the 15 years I worked as a television reporter and the 30 years I’ve worked in training corporate spokespeople, I’ve observed that the average company takes 3—4 hours to write, approve, and release a statement to the media. That always has and always will be unacceptable. The 3—4 hour void of information will get filled by speculation, including speculation that you are hiding facts from the public. But, you can nip speculation in the bud by releasing a fast holding statement in the first 15 minutes of your crisis.
The majority of your holding statement can be written as a template years before you ever have a crisis. It needs to cover exactly what the media wants, which is who (you), what (the event), when (time/day), where (address and location name), why (it’s ok to say you don’t know the cause), and how (it’s ok to say you are investigating.) If anyone is dead, injured, or missing you will need to include that as well. Although these are basic facts, it sends a positive message to the community and the media that you are “on it.” It shows competence and transparency.
Furthermore, the words you share will be immediately repeated by the media, often off-setting what might be falsehoods and misconceptions published to social media. Most importantly, you have filled the information void with facts. Each statement of fact replaces a statement of speculation.
A major flaw at many companies is the laborious review process that a simple statement goes through. The reason 3—4 hours pass before a release is distributed comes down to this:
- Writer writes news release (30 – 45 minutes)
- Executive team reviews statement, fighting over nuances in language (1 hour)
- Writer creates draft #2 (30 – 45 minutes)
- Executives repeat the word fight (1 hour)
The secret to alleviating the “word fight” is to use pre-approved news releases. The bulk of the language can be reviewed by lawyers and executives on a clear sunny day. Generally, around 80 to 100 pre-written words is a good amount for statements in a corporate crisis communications plan. Each statement is based on a vulnerability that has been identified within your company. It’s time consuming, but it pays huge dividends when you need to protect your revenue, reputation and brand.
Another secret is to change the style in which the statement is written. Our English teachers molded how we write, but what they taught was the technique for writing term papers. Journalists write with a different style, using short sentences written for the spoken word.
A second statement should be released within the first hour of your event, providing more details and further thwarting speculation. The key here is to write a statement that answers every question a reporter would ask, before the question can be asked. This is especially critical if your crisis event calls for a news conference. To test if your script answers questions before reporters can ask the questions, practice by having colleagues ask questions. If the answer isn’t already on the script, modify the script.
Every day, your revenue, reputation and brand are on the line. During a crisis, this is even more true. If you want to protect your revenue, reputation and brand, invest time in planning, preparation and practice.
Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is the Founder and CEO of SituationHub.com, a cloud-based software system that can write a crisis news release in under five minutes. He is also the CEO of Braud Communications, a firm that provide crisis communications plans and media training.
