Media Relationships in Emergencies

1. EPR-Public CommunicationsL-012 Media Relationships

2. Objective • An overview of how various media work and how to identify key media; • Establishing and maintaining working relationships with the media.

3. Outline • Overview; • Key media for radiation emergencies; • Establishing relationships.

4. Overview • Mass media can be a useful channel to communicate emergency related information; • Media do not just transmit information; they determine what will be reported according to their agenda; • Media act as the voice of the public—raising concerns in the public interest; • In the initial stages of the emergency, media tend to report factually with information provided; • At some point, however, usually once the urgent phase has passed, media will begin to question why the situation occurred and who may have been responsible; • They may also criticize the response itself, if there are any delays with providing information or action to protect the public.

5. Overview – Continued • Mass media: • Print media—daily and weekly newspapers, specialty publications, and magazines; • Electronic media—radio, television, Internet; • Newswire services. • The news cycle: • Increasingly 24/7 for all media types; • Most major daily newspapers have online editions that are updated regularly. • New media—blogs, social networking sites, Twitter, etc.

6. Overview – Continued • Characteristics to consider: • Print Media • More details and analysis reported; • Historical information; • Editorial opinion; • More time for research; • In depth features (magazines and specialty reporters). • Electronic media: • Immediacy; • Short reports; • Visually driven; • Constant updates—especially radio and cable TV (national and international); • Live interviews .

7. Overview – Continued • The more significant the event, the more constant the news coverage; • During an emergency, media will fill a vacuum with whatever information they can get from any source, regardless of credibility; • Response organizations must inform media as soon as possible what their role is in an emergency, even if information about the situation is incomplete; • Must offer regular updates to meet the demands of the “news cycle”, even if there are no new developments.

8. Key media for radiation emergencies • Identifying key media should be part of planning in preparation for a radiation emergency; • Consider likely emergency scenarios, based on where radiation is used: • Nuclear power plant; • Medical use (teletherapy or sealed sources); • Industrial use (construction, irradiation facilities, milling, etc); • Transboundary release. • Consider the likely affected audience and also the “reach” of the media available.

9. Key media for radiation emergencies • Special relationships with the media—include them into emergency planning; • Determine the audiences of particular media and their preferences—plan to use the most effective outlets during an emergency; • Be aware of the impact of social networking tools—particularly for issuing warnings; • Be prepared for different demands and interests of local, regional, national and international media;

10. Establishing relationships • Media will turn to those organizations that they know and trust; • Important to have well established relationships with media in advance; • Make sure you have their contact information and they have yours; • Establish priorities for those media that will be the most effective during an emergency.

11. Establishing relationships • Proactive media relations: • Meet with reporters or editors; • Include in emergency exercises; • Pitch stories; • Periodic updates about your organization or activities; • Effective spokespersons. • Listserv where media can get new information on topics they are interested in.

12. Establishing relationships • High turnover in media; • New media –blogs; • Interest groups; • Social networking sites.

13. Establishing relationships • Maintain these relationships in an emergency by planning for media needs: • Broadcast quality footage; • Print quality photos; • Maps and technical illustrations; • Quick facts for media; • Contact lists and out-of-hours numbers.

14. Media monitoring • PIOs should be aware of what other sources are saying about the emergency: • These sources may have valuable information that may be fed back into to the response organization; • They may be reporting inaccurately; • Response organizations needs to avoid creating a credibility gap, where other sources are providing new information.

15. Media monitoring • Analyze media coverage for trends and perspective on the emergency as it unfolds; • Media analysis can also be used to evaluate public communications activities as part of a lessons learned review.

16. Summary • Identify media who will be most important to the emergency response; • Establish positive relations with the media through proactive media relations; • Cultivate effective spokespersons who are knowledgeable and trained in risk communications principles.

17. Summary • Develop plans and arrangements to monitor media and analyze reporting trends during an emergency.