Urgent Evoke

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LEARN 9: the Secrets of Crisis Communication

Mission 9’s assignment bears special importance for me, because I am a Pharmacist, this means that I would be in the frontline in case of any outbreak. I will have to be able to handle the situation. I will have to deal with my fear -well in advance- in order to be ready to offer support to the public. But this is not enough; I have to be aware of the health policies devised and established by my country’s health authorities because I am part of the system.

There are many interesting points from the Guide to Journalists by the Harvard's
Neiman Foundation
that I would like to discuss. If I find the time I will write one post for each “secret of Crisis Communication”.

Let us start by the 5 principles of “Outbreak Communication” by D*** Thompson, private consultant and former team leader, WHO Pandemic and Outbreak Communication:

1 “Trust is the most important thing. Every communication we make is really part of our pandemic”

This means that before & during a Pandemic, civilians have to be able to trust their authorities. Commonly, authorities of Health Services are appointed on the basis of political decisions, and politicians are just not used to be honest or open. Another reason is that these authorities can’t afford to loose face regardless of their capacity or aptness for handling any emergency. Therefore, they often fail to be
consistent.

Civilians should also be able to TRUST the media, but journalists are a very special kind of guild: they often dare to offer misleading information (biased in the worst case); they try to make money out of spreading outrage and contradictory messages......The worst part is that ma**** pay more attention to the media than they really should.

2. “Be as transparent as possible”

This is VERY tricky, as pointed out by Glen Nowak,
Chief of Media Relations- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about communication in a dynamic environment: “Political leaders are rarely accustomed to the transparency needed in crisis communication”. So, can we really believe them and count on them?

3. “Announce early, even when there’s incomplete information”
Well, this point is also tricky, it depends on how much you can rely on -or guarantee- decent journalism, these days journalists are very used to “fill in the blanks” when there is incomplete information.

4. “Listen to the public and then plan for the extreme demands of outbreak communication

I think this is a really important point, listening to the public gives you an idea of the amount and sort of information that they may need at any given time. Listening also helps you to plan and implement preventive strategies: my favourite one is EDUCATION, although this one is the least and usually worst regarded resort.

There is also the need to develop a “speech code” which is agreed amongst the parties and useful to unify concepts between experts and the public (and of course, the media) so that, when the crisis comes, we all speak the “same language” (at least to some extent). We really need to be able to fluently communicate and understand the significance of the situation. Not assuming that this will solve all the problems, as people always have the choice to misunderstand and mishear or simply ignore recommendations.

5. “Never over-reassure or mislead. What helps shape our message is that we began talking about the “I don’t knows”

Politicians are used to over-reassure and they can not afford to say “I don’t know”. On the other hand, many journalists make a living out of misleading; plus journalists are not capable of accepting the phrase “I do not know”, at least they can not cope with it, they criticize authorities or experts who openly dare to declare they “don’t know”.

So, where is the solution? The answer again is EDUCATION, an educated public is able to handle risks and tough crisis, they know where they stand and they are able to distinguish the truth and they can make wise decisions.

We do not have records to back up my statement yet, because we haven't reached such a stage of “real education”…….not even in the developed world.


I am referring here to an holistic concept of education (currently inexistent) for politicians, journalists, citizens, etc. If you want to share your ideas about this subject please comment below. Thank you!

Ideally, people educated in the right way should be able to cope with outbreaks, market crashes, pandemics, terrorism, etc. This is mainly because on the first instance, sufficiently well-educated societies are not supposed to be at risk of health or social crisis. They would only have to cope with natural disasters.


Views: 18

Comment by A.V.Koshy on May 5, 2010 at 7:27pm
solid post ternura
it's funny how people show less and less interest in reading the posts
Comment by Ternura Rojas on May 5, 2010 at 9:18pm
Thank you very much for the visit Amigo AV :-) I will try to make more time and vote our fellows posts. But this will be 2mrrw as my little squirrel is demanding my attention. Over & out
Comment by Michele Baron on May 5, 2010 at 9:57pm
thank you for the EDUCATION ( :) ) Ternura. You raise valid points in civilians' needs for communication and information, as viewed by D*** Thomas. Good evoking.
Comment by sunnydupree on May 6, 2010 at 6:52am
Good work Temura!!! That is the stuff!
Comment by Jason Hill on June 2, 2010 at 8:20pm
Well thought out. As someone who works with public health communication it is a very interesting world when it comes to managing the message and controlling perception. Sadly the answer of education is so rarely an option as the public only gets its news in "bites" which are not meant to help them truly understand just meant to get them to react.
Comment by Ternura Rojas on June 2, 2010 at 9:05pm
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your comment.These misunderstandings have to end sooner than later; I know that scientists are willing to take their part, I would like to hear that journalists are ready to fair play also.
Now the third party: In my opinion the public only hear what they want to, they only mind about crappy TV shows, about the "furry" details of public figure's lifes and little more, my theory can be backed by the fact that they don't even care about their own nutrition! Do you have a different view? I would love to hear it! Cheers, Ternura

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