This article is written by James E. Lukaszewski, president of the Lukaszewski Group, and is excerpted from the just-published PR News Crisis Management Guidebook. The
guidebook is available at http://www.prnewsonline.com Crises can be career-defining and career-breaking moments for bosses, but also
for reporters. The atmosphere is electric, the environment is competitive, and the communication demands are enormous on everyone. For the media, it seems that standards, protocols,
and ethics tend to evaporate in favor of instant reporting. No organization can be good enough or act fast enough to get ahead of this careless approach to coverage.
The prevailing wisdom seems to be, "better to report something that is inaccurate fast than to either fail to report anything or to wait to be right and miss the news cycle or news
moment."
While this works for editors and reporters, it's devastating for organizations and businesses, but even more so for the victims. Katrina is a prime example; the media will be
taking back extraordinary and outrageously wrong headlines for years. Here are some of my favorites: "100,000 Dead," "New Orleans Water Supply Contaminated for 100 Years or More?",
"Can New Orleans Ever Recover?", and "New Orleans May Have to Be Abandoned."
You can immediately recall the mining disaster in West Virginia where the media, with enormous fanfare and in hundreds of front page headlines across America, reported that 12
miners were found alive and one had died. Yet, practically in the same news cycle, the grizzly truth came out that 11 were dead and only one had survived. The media proceeded to
blame the company and victims' families -- everyone but themselves. The sad fact, of course, is that the victims failed to die at a time convenient to the news deadline. So the
editors decided to guess and guessed wrong.
This is going to happen again and again because this is and has been the nature of news coverage in crisis. Prepare for it; forecast it; identify the most likely erroneous
scenarios and ideas; plan to preempt, accommodate, control, or correct them; and then hold reporters, editors, and news organizations to account.
There are three techniques we recommend for getting the fairest shake possible when reporters arrive, especially when the situation is highly unstable or highly active:
1. Recording, then transcribing and distributing the transcripts of all significant interviews to important constituencies and contacts.
2. Subjecting news stories to a truth assessment process.
3. Implementing a process called correction and clarification.
Transcribing And Merchandising
For years we have recommended that clients audio record all significant media interviews and videotape the more controversial ones; and place both the electronic version and a
verbatim transcript on their Web site.
Merchandise these Web items directly to those who matter: customers, employees, vendors, government officials, funders, shareholders, even other journalists who may cover your
business routinely. You are helping key constituencies better make up their own minds about you, your credibility, and what is really going on. We also suggest posting e-mail
traffic with reporters. This way, your constituents can judge for themselves the reporter's actual intentions.
Truth Assessment
News subjects need a means to judge the validity and believability of the stories their news interviews generate. The index is derived from a series of Truth Index Test questions.
(See chart.)
The higher the score, the lower the believability and the lower the probable validity of the news story. Much of the index information comes from reporter's behaviors, which are
indicators of news believability and credibility. If reporters are excessively insulting or disrespectful, deceptive, or negative, information from sources may be less valid or
valuable.
News subjects can use the level of truthfulness to determine whether an article requires correction and clarification or other remedial efforts.
Using Correction And Clarification
Correction and clarification is a technique where a news article is displayed vertically on the left site of a Web screen with certain language in the article in bold face type.
It's the bold face type items that are to be corrected and clarified. On the right side of the Web screen, corrections and clarifications appear. These are direct, constructive, and
positive responses to the errors, distortions, imperfections, or fabrications of a given news story. [Editor's Note: You can request some samples by e-mail from [email protected]. Use the subject line PRN C and C request.]
Remember, the First Amendment gives each of us the limitless right to speak as we choose, just as independently the First Amendment gives the press the limitless right to ask
questions. They are separate, they are equal, but it's your responsibility to hold reporters to account - especially in crisis.
Copyright c 2006, James E. Lukaszewski. All rights reserved.
CONTACTS:
James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, APR, Fellow PRSA is the chairman and president of The Lukaszewski Group Inc. He can be reached at 914.681.0000 or [email protected].