Manging the Media in Emergency Situations

Misinformation can spread faster than wildfire,
​potentially damaging yourbusiness’ reputation before you know what hit you.

​Between safety protocols, fire drills, evacuation plans, and even active shooter drills, it’s common practice to prepare your business and its employees for how to navigate emergency situations. But, in these times when even a minor incident can become trending across social media in the blink of an eye, have you ever stopped to think about how you would manage the media during an emergency situation?

When a crisis occurs, before you communicate with any news or social media outlet, you first need to have a well-constructed plan. We reached out to CalOHA’s publicist, Jeff Crider who stated, “It is always a good idea to develop prepared statements involving crises of any type”. Until/unless you are fully prepared to do so, the best thing to do is to not address the media, or simply inform them that “we are not speaking on the situation at this time”. Once you have a prepared statement, it is important that you stick to it, and do not comment further. If you start answering questions and allowing media outlets to dig deeper, it is easy for things to get out of hand or to say things you may not have fully thought through or completely meant. Once something has been said, it’s nearly impossible to take it back, even if the statement was taken out of context. We would also recommend that you designate one individual to manage all media and news outlets, to lessen the chances of miscommunications occurring. 

Crider also noted that “The key in all of these situations is to act quickly”. If you are not controlling your narrative, you are opening the door for speculation and rumors often make for a better social media story than the truth.

Should you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of misinformation spreading about your park, please do not hesitate to reach out to CalOHA. We are here to assist you with circulating the corrected information. 

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