In Depth

Crisis Communication: How To Stay Cool on the Hot Seat

In the event of a crisis or a security breach, the media will come calling. Heres your playbook for making them allies, not antagonists.

By Bob Violino

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Provide useful information. Going into a shell during a crisis isn’t wise, experts say. “We hear people repeatedly say ‘no comment.’ That’s not going to make the incident go away nor the media,” Weber says.

Instead, organizations should be as forthcoming as possible with information about the specific incident, and provide any relevant background information that will help the media put the situation in proper context. “Tell them what you do,” Weber says. “Provide a fact sheet or release that explains what your business does.”

The process of dealing with the media during a major crisis should be managed by a crisis management team or similar function, to ensure that accurate and up-to-date information gets out.

Plan for crisis management and include media relations.

Having a plan in place for how to handle a crisis and the accompanying media coverage is better than dealing with these things on the fly.

“Think through options and course of action before you need it,” says Tess Koleczek, chief privacy officer at E-Loan, a financial services firm. Those involved in managing media dealings in a crisis should include the CEO, head of the division involved and representatives from legal and public relations, Koleczek says.

Jonathan Bernstein, president of consultancy Bernstein Crisis Management, agrees that preparation is crucial. “The biggest mistake is failure to plan. That has a cascading effect in terms of the types of errors that occur,” he says. Without planning, “you can’t respond as quickly and you won’t be prepared for what to say and do in advance.”

People from public or media relations should be part of the planning process from the beginning, says Morrow. “Today we had an exercise that we do quarterly on some [crisis] scenario, and we included the internal and external corporate communications folks,” Morrow says. “We have to let them know how things are handled.”

Train your spokespeople. “One of most important things is that the person who’s talking with the media should be someone who has gone through some type of training on dealing with the media and providing what they need,” says Weber.

In a crisis, many organizations automatically put the CEO in front of the media, Weber says. But if the chief executive or other designated spokesperson isn’t comfortable or familiar with reporters, cameras and microphones, that could backfire.

“All spokespeople need to be trained to deal with friendly interviews and in-your-face ambush interviews,” says Bernstein. “It’s not an intuitive skill.”

Establish an ongoing relationship. Organizations that keep media outlets—such as local newspapers and TV stations—informed on an ongoing basis will be less likely to have misunderstandings when a crisis arises. They might even rely on the media for help in disseminating information.