How to Work With the Media During a Crisis9th Annual Media Relations Summer Camp

June 27, 2016

Protecting your reputation is job #1 in a crisis.

In every crisis – a victim, a villain and a hero.

Your pain is someone else’s gain.

Welcome to the Outrage Circus

“The speed of information, anonymous attack platforms, electronic provocation of resentment, gratuitous leaking, a rabid hunger for visibility, weak impulse control when interacting with social media, and the incentives placed on spreading damaging information have stacked the deck against attack targets to unprecedented degrees. Technology has made us more self-important, empowered and promiscuous in our ability to injure targets.”- Eric Dezenhall

Online conflict can create mainstream media coverage.

#tellOHEverything

#HasJustineLandedYet

“Twitter disasters are the quickest source of outrage, and outrage is traffic. I didn’t think about whether or not I might be ruining Sacco’s life. The tweet was a bad tweet, and seeing it would make people feel good and angry – a simple social and emotional transaction that had happened before and would happen again and again. The minimal post set off a 48-hour paroxysm of fury, an eruption of internet vindictiveness…Jokes are complicated, context is hard. Rage is easy.”-- Gawker blogger Sam Biddle

“Justine Sacco is not a racist monster. She is a kind and canny woman. She was friendly, very funny, instantly relatable, and very plainly not a cruel sicko. An apology to Justine Sacco had been itching at my throat from the moment I saw her. So I did it: I said I was sorry posting her tweet had teleported her into a world of media scrutiny and misery. I'd managed to half-convince myself what I'd done was right, but then I saw her face. How often do you get to say you're sorry to someone you ruined on the internet?”-- Sam Biddle

#RIPHARAMBE

You are what you tweet. Be good to others.

Plan A: Resolve the issue or crisis before the media come calling.

CALLING

Plan B…

7 deadly sins of crisis mismanagement

The story won’t go away if you disappear.

No comment = we’re guilty.

The cover-up will hurt worse than the screw-up.

Lying will hurt worse than the cover-up and the screw-up.

Too late. Your tweet’s already been screen captured.

Dodge and deflect blame.

You’re the only one who feels sorry for you.

Mess up? Fess up. And do it first and fast.

We’re sorry. No fake apologies.

Apologize in person, not through the media.

We’re disappointed. And embarrassed.

We’re making things right.

Nobody panic. We’ve got things under control.

One media spokesperson from start to finish. Choose wisely.

Make sure your receptionist knows what to do and say.

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Never trash talk the media to your friends and followers.

Not guilty? Push back. Lawyer up if needed.

This too shall pass.

Keep building your trust and forgiveness account with good news stories.