Fundamentals of Crisis Communication

3
CHAPTER
FUNDAMENTALS OF CRISIS
COMMUNICATION
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
“When it comes to crisis communications, if you always focus on building a

relationship with your customers, fans, and followers, you will always find
yourself communicating in the right direction.”
—Melissa Agnes, president and co-founder of Agnes + Day Inc.
CONTENTS
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................ 64
3.2 Development and Learning of Crisis Communication......................... 70
3.3 Crisis Communications In Planning, Response, And Restoration......... 75
3.4 The Steps of Crisis Communications.................................................... 77
3.5 Case Studies....................................................................................... 84
References................................................................................................ 90
Copyright 2019. Society Publishing.
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64 Crisis Communication and Crisis Management
Crisis Communication is a very basic prerequisite of the planning, response,

and restoration of a crisis situation. It requires transparency in the system
and a fluent and unobstructed flow of information from the management
through the authorities to the public. This information helps the public
and all the other stakeholders to respond to the crisis situation. Hence, it
becomes important to dwell upon the fundamentals of and steps involved in
crisis communication. This chapter throws light on these essential topics so
that readers get to know their strengths and shortcomings, according to what
is exactly needed to carry out an effective communication flow.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The Fundamentals of Crisis Communication

The crisis communication may be defined as, “The information that is
exchanged by and between public authorities, organizations, the media,
affected individuals, and groups before, during, and after a crisis.” The
democratic look of an organization is important for the flow of communication
to take place among the media, the authorities and the public and all the
three elements should have confidence in the look of the organization.
The communicators should possess the ability to identify the different
types of groups that need to be focused on and be good enough to adapt to
these groups, for the communication to be effective. For example, in a case
of communication between the authorities and the public, the former one
should be able to collect the information from the latter and use it to provide
them with information about the ways to tackle the crisis.
If the authorities are not willing to receive and provide information and
appear to be non-helpful instead of being of important value to the public,
the confidence of the public in the authorities will diminish and break, which
would stall the communication flow. This may lead the public to render
irresponsible to provide information to the authorities that might damage
the response system of the crisis. The public authorities, organizations,
and business need to coordinate between themselves and communicate the
information. They also need to find and get information from the public.
The perspective of the communicators also matters a lot when it comes to
internal crisis communication being effective. The perception may involve:
• Ability to assess situations and resources
• Ability to conclude from the perceptions made
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Fundamentals of Crisis Communication 65
• Ability to explain the situation and convey the information to the

public
• Ability to predict the need of the situation in future
• Ability to determine the people who may be affected
• Ability to inform those people about their crisis situation
Conclusively, for the communication to be effective, it is important
for the communicator to have the vigor of gathering and analyzing the
information and finally be capable of communicating the decisions made
from that information and the measures that may be taken to handle the
crisis. Another significant factor for the communication to be efficient
knows about the role of media before the crisis, during the phase and after
it has got over.
Figure 3.1: Perceptions

It is important to figure out how the journalists work and in what
conditions and what how they would report the crisis while it is going on
and after it has been handled. Now that there has been development of
such advanced technologies, it has become convenient for the people to
communicate to a large population about their crisis with accessible media.
This helps them spread their messages through a vast number of people.
This, though, may pose threat to the functions of public authorities who
are in charge of communicating the information in the crises. However,
they should instead of viewing this as a threat, try to utilize this trend by
mentioning it in their emergency management processes and use the tool of

crisis communication for influencing and informing the targeted audience.
The authorities should also develop knowledge on the ways in which public
reacts to a crisis, the ways in which they can communicate with the public
during and before the crisis and the manner in which the public would
communicate in the real time with the media or through it.
3.1.1 Importance of Crisis Communication

Communication in a crisis situation significantly affects the handling of the
situation and shapes up the response activities for it. Hence, it would be
safe to assume crisis communication as a core element of the management
of an emergency situation constituting and integral part of it. There are
expectations from the public from the authorities on the communication of
the information regarding the crisis. They believe it to be made available
to them all along the whole incidence of the crisis situation, that is, before,
during and after the situation.
If the authorities fail to meet these expectations, the public tends
to lose confidence in the management and the democratic fabric of the
communication chain. This situation may be dealt with in a better and
improved way with regular training and conducting exercises. Though, it
should be the responsibility of the individuals and stakeholders involved to
decide on the sequence of processes and the flow of communication in the
crisis by considering the amount of resources they have, the extent of the
crisis and the existence of their organization.
The communication in the crisis and the response system that takes place
are not always the same. They vary according to an individual’s knowledge
about the situation, intuition of the person, and their experience and their
ability to combine these characteristics with the flexibility and innovation,
to reach at a decision about dealing with the situation. The individual is
further responsible to implement these decisions in accordance with the
strategies that are needed to respond to the crisis keeping in mind the type of
crisis and the organization dealing with it.
3.1.2 A Look at the Crisis and Crisis Response

The individuals or the stakeholders who respond to the crisis situation should
be able to comprehend how the situation and their actions to respond, would
be viewed or perceived as. His perspective of the situation may be formed
from different sources and mediators and the role media plays, especially
frames the idea of the other people or organizations, which are not the part
of the crisis. It is very important for the stakeholders of the crisis to know
that the general public perception of their situation is significant, even if
they are not even remotely related to the situation.
The perception of people about the crisis situation may have an impact on
the confidence they have in the social institutions and the organization going
through the crisis. Some fundamentals that may define crisis communication
may be listed as below:
Figure 3.2: Crisis and crisis response factors
Credibility
An organization may maintain its credibility by high standards, by imbibing
the virtues of honesty and competency and showcase it at all times, regardless
of the kind of situation it may be in. The high level of genuine credibility
of the organization helps them communicate and convey the intended
messages. The main part of building up the credibility of the firm starts way
before the situation of crisis takes place.
This is done by building relations that are stable, having a good relationship
with media and the journalists, building trust among the partners and
imprinting a good image of the firm on public’s minds. These relationships
that are built in good faith have a major role in the communication to be
effective in crisis. This job of building up the credibility of the organization
may be taken up by the managers and communication professionals. These
relationships determine the way an organization is perceived in general.
Transparency
Transparency in a crisis situation is the most important aspect to be considered
when preparing for the responses, but it is extremely difficult to maintain.
The authorities may give certain instructions to the public to be followed in
response to the crisis, but the extent to which the public may follow depends
on the credibility of the people in charge. Non-transparent and secretive
organizations reek of improper management and non-competency. But as
the whole picture may not be clear until later stages, transparency may
appear to be a complex phenomenon.
Though people may think of the organization as non-trustworthy,
there may genuinely be an information that is not too reliable and the
authorities may be restricting themselves from revealing an uncertain piece
of information. Transparency may apply to everyone from media to the
authorities and to the public. It is a prior requirement for the communication
between the responders during a crisis.
Even when people do not understand certain situations or instructions,
they should be clear about communicating their problem to the concerned
authorities. In addition, if the secrecy of a situation is to be maintained due
to privacy concerns, it should be communicated to the media and the people
and even if the media does not respect the privacy clause, the public may
certainly do so. In a crisis, the official records of the organization may be
made available to the public, to maintain the transparency demanded by the
people.
Accessibility
The organizations may create platform for both the media and the public
to have a conversation with the firm on a regular basis for making it easier
for these stakeholders to have an access. Certain procedures, technologies,
relations, and system may form this platform. The channels to make the
communication and information accessible should always be ready for a

crisis. These channels may be technical equipment, websites, phone numbers
and procedures to get in touch with the media and preparing for the questions
they may ask. Employees should not back away from interacting with the
media and be competent to handle the questions. The media interactions are
not limited to the trained communicators but involve the employees as well.
The management, especially in the critical situations, should also consider
the dialogue and accessibility.
Expertise
The expertise of an organization is very instrumental in building up the
credibility of the organization. This expertise may be attained by an
organization that works hard, constitutes a healthy organizational culture
and has people that respect the media and individual journalists and are
professional about their communication with them. Communicators,
managers, and other people who may represent the organization may show
this hunt expertise.
The expertise may also be augmented by being transparent about the
revelation of an information and admitting with an explanation that why an
information cannot be shared publicly. This level of expertise comes only
with experience and knowledge about how to strategize the situation.
Understanding
Understanding in an organization, among its employees, impacts how the
people may respond to a crisis and the way public perceives the situation.
An effective response in the crisis may be attributed to how the people
understand others’ situations and how they sympathize with the victims. In
the absence of understanding, there will not be an idea of the measures to be
taken up to respond to the situation.
One thing to always keep in mind is that priority in any kind of critical
situation should always be given to the lives and health of the people as
against physical property or materialistic loss. There should also be an
understanding of the whether or not an individual needs some piece of
information. Even if the information is not available with the authorities,
they should be able to be politely transparent to the people about it. Another
thing that may come up in a crisis is the equal treatment of people and their
feelings when they suffer discrimination.
3.2 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING OF CRISIS

COMMUNICATION
The communication regarding a crisis may be established even before the
crisis take place. One way in which it can be done is by being knowledgeable
and trained. Communicators may take some measures to develop these
trainings or somebody might pursue the communicator to take up such
things. These trainings may involve some initiatives such as:
Prepare organization
It can help in making the people associated with the organization aware of
the importance and role of crisis communication. The communicators should
tell the employees that they should participate actively in communicating
with each other and the management, not considering the position at which
they are in the firm. The work also focuses on incorporating the best kind of
practices and implementing them.
Train key people

This requires providing training to the important people that would be
present and active at the time of crisis and educate them. Certain people in
the organization are not the communicators but are generally in interaction
with the media. These people should be provided with special training.
Generally, these people include the managers of the firm, but other positions
may also appeal to the media.
Make the communicators ready

This involves telling the communicators ways to improve and gain proficiency
in their methods of communication. The communicators must have good
knowledge and practice of handling their equipment and should be well
versed with the skills needed to pass information, especially the IT skills.
Some channels through which the communication can be made, constitute
SMS and MMS messages, emails, voice messages, video technologies, web
publications and search engines, and the communicators should be capable
of handling them. This also involves reviewing the people on their progress
in training, which assists in people getting familiar with each other.
3.2.1 ORGANIZING TRAININGS AND EXERCISES

TO STIMULATE CRISIS COMMUNICATION
The organizing of exercises regarding management in emergency and the
knowledge on whose command to follow should involve communication in
those situations as a major topic. The communication helps the employees to
follow the instructions clearly by contacting the trained personnel about the
ways to deal with the crisis and knowing about the availability of resources.
In addition to the communicators, the line of command should be
practiced on a regular basis. The different ways of propagating information
should not be left out while conducting the exercises. These ways include
communication among authorities, between authorities and the public and
between the authorities and the media.
Exercises
These training exercises need to be planned with the help of imagination and
then organized. The managers of the crisis should have idea and knowledge
of the existing needs in communication and the things that may come up
in the future. A good communication chain ensures that there is no release
of statements that have conflict when issued in public with those issued in
media.
Media
The exercises should involve both the media and the public. This may make
the exercises look more real than they are and thus test the participants’
patience and agility. The people playing the role of journalists could innovate
on reporting about the affected public and their relatives. The organizations
may use actual journalists or make some people play the role of one. They
can also use some students of journalism. This could be helped by the
journalism schools willing to take part in such activities and exercises. The
placement of cameras and the questionnaire for the interviews should look
authentic. A feedback on the authenticity should also be taken.
The Public
The communication with the public regarding training should be authentic
to maximum possibility. The media can monitor the information propagation
to the public through the use of various resources by websites or conducting
interviews. The public then can contact the authorities for the information
on the steps needed to be followed.
The reactions of the public can be acted, which would give a realism
to the whole exercise. Anyone could play the role of public, as there is no
practice required to be had in advance.
Methods and Channels

The role-playing individuals may use any kind of method to practice on,
from different channels available. This may involve a technical system that
requires testing or various other forms of networking and communication.
Figure 3.3: Various online channels for communication
Source: http://trespm.com.mx/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/131017–7–3.jpg
Web Newspaper
In the event of actual crisis, a web newspaper would be published to share
the information and news. The role-playing media persons and journalists
should prepare a web newspaper, which should be available to the
participants without making efforts. The feedback from these newspapers
can be obtained by the journalists through telephones.
Mock conferences
Some press conference may be arranged to imply realism of the situation.
This reality will come to the participants when they see a lot of media
persons in one room and asking questions to them. This would exert more
pressure on the participants. The role of the media persons could be played
by the media and journalism students or the managers can hire freelancers.
The team in command of the exercise should organize the press conferences.
The rooms and the time on which the conference will be organized
should be booked quite before the actual date of the conference. The details
concerning the conference should be professionally handled and after the
conference is over, the report of it should be handled to the organizer to
provide the role players with feedback on their actions.
Radio/Television
These exercises may be taken up by some radio stations and television
partners so that their procedures involving the management of emergency
situations may be improved. If they do not take part themselves, they may
be invited by contacting them to do so. The news reporting can be done by
some reporters with experience, who would be responsible for the reporting
by bringing their own equipment.
The individuals that are playing role of reporters may keep an eye on
the participants of the exercise. The mock press conferences can also be
covered by these television reporters. The results of the exercise by the radio
stations and television channels may be sent to these participants by the use
of internet.
Training
It is important to know the areas and people that require training so that the
length and the intensity of the training can be decided, whether it would be
a 2-day training or a week long. The different aspects of the training may
involve:
• The lectures over the crisis communication or the seminars on
this topic may be held with the manager of the crisis situations
so that the person receiving these lectures is well aware of the
importance of it.
• The seminars could be held with the communication officer of the
firm or with anybody significant enough to have had an experience
of the crisis. This would be better if the person would be of some

other organization, which would provide a new perspective of
a crisis. However, since it would be difficult to bring someone
from other organization, someone from the same firm with an
experience of a previous crisis would also be effective. The other
participants may be told facts about the event, which had been
discussed by them, but have been officially hidden from them.
• The arrangement of training courses for senior managers and
other participants involves media practically such as conducting
interviews with cameras. Many managers generally tend not to
talk to media due to their fear of facing the cameras and being
interviewed on television. The organizers know who these
managers are and can politely request them to participate if they
wish to or they can set aside some time for them to practice with
the media people without of presence of people they know.
Some training may be done during some major events, which may prove
to be a good practice, in spite of there being no effect on the organization.
Figure 3.4: Facebook fumbles in its crisis situation
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2018/04/20/facebook-fumbles-
its-own-brand-crisis/#3928bca33f21
3.3 CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS IN PLANNING,

RESPONSE, AND RESTORATION
Crisis communications are of great importance for any organization
irrespective of its industry hence it is essential for all organizations to
have in place a very robust crisis communications and management
team. They will be responsible for mitigating the possible risk through
developing effective CMP, build communication amongst the different team
members within and beyond the organization’s boundaries. However, crisis
communication strategies are applicable to each industry; however, there are
certain industries, which are more vulnerable to the crisis. These industries
include food, healthcare, heavy industry, manufacturing, mining, utilities,
dangerous materials, and exploring.
The crisis communication includes various aspects; few of them are
discussed below:
• Identifying the root cause of the crisis
• Establishing media communications plans further, collecting and
producing the up-to-date resources on the evolving issue and
situation
• Finding ways to access evaluate and address the crisis. Identifying
the level of crisis and having a well-defined, well-established
protocol for every situation.
• Have a dedicated team of people who practice CM.
• Assigning roles to each individual, developing and releasing the
message for the media, monitoring the action plan a providing
timely feedback on the emerging issues
However, every such situation contains some degree of undesired
scrutiny, intervention of normal business operations, and harm (or threat of
harm) to reputation. An exact and accurate information before such situation
would be an added advantage and provides an opportunity for improvement.
Hence, the vulnerability assessment is an important tool for crisis planning.
It is achieved through establishing contacts with the people within the
organization and further accessing events and incidents that have affected
the competitors. The vulnerabilities identified can be further prioritized and
then accordingly mitigated. By this way, the organization could not only
neutralize the emerging threats but could also take necessary measures to
take a preventive action against the future crisis.
At the most rudimentary level, the crisis communications could be divided

into three stages, which are as follows: crisis planning, crisis response, and
crisis recovery. Now let us discuss each of the stages individually.
Crisis Planning
It is set of activities undertaken to define the constituents of crisis for an
organization, identifying the vulnerabilities, allocating responsibilities to
team members, developing an interface for media interaction, preparing the
standby material and practicing it periodically. As discussed in this book, the
crisis is defined as an event or series of events that disrupt the operational
flow of an organization and intensify the tension within the organization
and its stakeholders. Some organization firmly believes in spending huge
amount of resources in developing a bulky crisis manual. In contrast, little
organization believes in having a short manual. The focus of an organization
should be towards developing a functional crisis plan. Further, having a
proper database includes the details of the individuals who are the part of
decision-making team. They should be accessible at any point of time.
Further, there are more important substrates to ensure the proper
formation of the plan. Those are as follows.
• Thought process that is included in the planning
• The commitment to follow it systematically
Crisis Response
It is the undertaken measure and set of action that an organization takes
during the crisis. It is usually the short-term effort of the firm undertakes
during the crisis. At this stage, it is important to appoint a skilled media
spoke person, who would be responsible to communicate the entire situation
to the external world through media. Hence, it is imperative to be make a
pre-planning before this media interaction. It provides an opportunity for the
organization to decide on the content of information that they wish to share.
In such situation, where the reputation of the organization is at serious risk,
such opportunity should be wisely utilized to safeguard the reputation.
Usually, such response takes days or sometimes even a week. By a week,
the crisis evolves as a manageable situation. The term issue might seem
familiar but is totally a unique term. The major dissimilarity between them
is, the crisis is a situation which is totally out of an organization’s control,
whereas, the organization has the control over any issue.
During the process, it is suggested for an organization facing crisis, to

remain as transparent, humble and show empathy towards the victims. It is
essential to deal with people efficiently and tactfully. The communication
made through words and though action, would decide the response of the
individual stakeholder. An effective communicator should avoid making
statement based on their sole judgment, conclusion, or assumption. Because
any assumption base statement could further increase the risk level. The basis
step to follow this rule is by avoiding usage of words like never, always, and
so forth. as these words communicate a sense of uncertainty and ambiguity.
Crisis Recovery
This is the step undertaken during the aftermath of an incident. It helps the
organization to recover from the crisis and get back to its normal business
operation. Generally, it is observed that any organization, which faces
a crisis, emerges as a firm with characteristics that are different from its
previously defined values and characteristics. This shift takes place due to
change in processes and policies that were being identified as inappropriate
and unsafe for the firm. Sometimes, these changes are the result of change
in leadership. The crisis provides an opportunity for the organization to
introspect own processes and system. Hence, the crisis recovery stage lays
the path for rectification in the process and system and brings change in the
organization.
However, the risk factor increases, if the organization fails to identify the
drawbacks and take required measures. Because any similar future incident
would cause cumulative effect on the organization. Change is an inevitable
phenomenon that takes place in every aspect of the world. Similarly, an
organization also experiences change, which is beneficial for it is long
run. As the process includes the identification of the problem, finding the
solution and finally incorporating it into the process. With the right approach
and leadership that gets it, crisis recovery can be a positive time for an
organization; a period of renewal and a recommitment to the core principles
under which the organization was founded.
3.4 THE STEPS OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS
3.4.1 Pre-Crisis
In recent years, many organizations have started focusing on developing and
improving their abilities in the field of early warning. It boosts the confidence
level within the organization, increases the efficiency of the firm. If the firm
and its management are proactive enough to actively participate in analyzing
the effectiveness of the plan, it would definitely achieve the desired state.
Such results could be achieved by conducting intense brainstorming sessions
on the available issue. This brings two major benefits to the exercise.
• This gives an opportunity to access the situation and identify
the situations, which are usually preventable by modifying the
existing methods of operations.
• This will further provide an opportunity to build probable
response on the best/worst case
The formal method for gathering the information is termed as
“vulnerability audit.” In some situation crisis is triggered by the pre-known
action of the management like for example, lay-off plan exercises within
the organization or some major merger plan. Such assessment would create
a crisis response plan, which would be a proper fit for the organization.
Further, it would include both operational and communications components.
The steps mentioned below highlights a few major topics, which should be
included in the communications section of the plan.
3.4.2 Step One-Identifying the Crisis Communications Team

In developing a crisis response plan, one of the initial steps includes
identifying the key members of the senior management who would function
as an integral part of crisis communications team. During such situations,
any organization that practices a good CM should be pre-planned on the
probable situation and take a collective step during such crisis. A unified
action would further reduce any possibility of miscommunication. Another
latent function of the crisis communications plan is to ensure consistency
within the message. Any diversion in the message might risk the organization
further. As it reduces the credibility competency of the management and
employee. It is suggested to follow the established protocol during such
conditions.
The team should include the top officials like the CEO/Director/
President and other key people like manager of the different departments,
legal representatives, security head, and so forth. Thought, their involvement
depends on the size of the organization. However, it is very important to
identify their significance and accordingly involve them, as per the situation
and their skill set.
Identify and Train Spokespersons

Ideally, an organization should identify the spokesperson through
appropriate policies and training. The particular person would be held as a
primary contact for all the inquiries from media and government bodies. He
or she would be responsible for conducting all press conferences, along with
giving interviews to the media people during the crisis. This particular role
demands an extremely experienced professional who has a background of
print and broadcast media. He or she should possess a good knowledge about
the organization and the work culture. This desired set of knowledge would
help that person to effectively communicate with the media and address their
query regarding the organization and the situation. The particular individual
should be dynamic, calm and should have a pleasing personality. This will
give a good impact over the external people. The person should be capable
enough to drive the complex arguments into strategic into strategic talking
points and be able to highlight those points in a way that does not appear to
be avoiding the tough questions
All organizational spokespersons during a crisis must have:
• The right skills
• The right position
• The right training
The Right Skills: The person representing the organization must
possess right set of skills. Few of the most sought skills are as follows. The
individual should not have audience fear and should be comfortable in front
of camera he or she should be effective communicator in terms of verbal and
written communication. In addition, most important, the individual should
be efficient in using online communication tools and social media platforms.
The Right Position: Further, the person representing the organization
in front of media should excel in all forms of crisis communications.
These channels include social media, traditional media, and several other
mediums. Depending upon the severity of the crisis, one should take the
adequate measures. Such crisis should be considered with great care and
the chief executive should take up the lead as a spoke person to address
the media and console the families who have experienced death due to the
tragedy. Executive who fails to acknowledge the severity of the situation
would risk the organizational reputation. The fact is that some chief
executives are brilliant organizational leaders but not very effective in-
person communicators. The decision about who should speak is made after
a crisis breaks but the pool of potential spokespersons should be identified

and trained in advance.
The right training: Further, it is essential to provide the adequate
training and groom the spoke person and his team for the task. Without
a proper training on the various aspect of organization, even an efficient
communicator would lack the extra touch, which is desired for the role and
situation.
Appointing an Internal Communications Manager

There should be separate person for handling the internal communication
within the organization. His or her responsibility should be to establish
communication with the internal parties within the organization. The
individual would be responsible for safety of the organization’s employees
and constituents. Depending on the nature of the firm, it could be the
suppliers or customers. He would be communicating thoroughly with the
law enforcement and emergency management officials to pass the essential
information to everyone involved. At the planning stage, the individual would
be responsible for collecting all of the contact information from employees,
as well as keeping the database up to date. However, it is essential to prepare
a comprehensive data structure containing the detailed information on the
preferred mode of contact for each individual. Apart from this, the individual
is also responsible for collecting the information from various public safety
officials that might be needed during the crisis.
Media Relations Specialist

This individual would be responsible for maintaining a proper relationship
with the local media. This role demands an effective public relations skill.
He or she chosen for the task should be of cool nature and should not panic
in the situation of stress and crisis. Establishing a relationship of trust
between the organization and the local reporters is an important function
of this individual. The person is required to maintain the list of local and
national reporters who cover the sector
Apart from the three different key level of crisis communication team,
there are other member of the crisis communications team who should be
evaluated and designated to fill support roles, based upon their abilities and
areas of expertise:
Crisis Manager Liaison: he or she is the individual, who attends

the meeting with higher management, who are responsible for directing
operations and keeps the rest of the Crisis Communications Team updated.
Employee Liaison: He is the person who is responsible for having a
close communication with the internal communications manager to update
the employees and/or their families on the situation.
Social Media Manager: This particular person would be responsible for
managing the social media content and communication for the organization
during the crisis. The individual appointed for the role would be handling
the comments and response on the social media platform. If required, the
person is responsible for sharing links to the available resources containing
the accurate information. This individual would also assist in monitoring the
crisis on social media platform.
Researcher/Writer: This person also plays an essential role in the
CMT. The individual appointed for this role would assist the media relations
person and the spokesperson in compiling and preparing information to be
released, as well as crosschecking facts to maintain the accuracy.
Telephone & Email Screeners: They are the part of team who receives
the crisis related message from the public, media, further reviewing and
routing the same to the key people.
3.4.3 Step Two: Determine the Locations Where the Crisis

Communications Team May be needed
Further, it is essential to decide on the location of the action. It depends on
the size of the organization and nature of the crisis. These factors would
define the deployment of the crisis communications team to desired location
during a crisis. This includes:
3.4.4 Emergency Operations Centre

Depending on the nature of crisis, it is further essential to establish a center,
which would facilitate the required information to the external parties
affected by the crisis. This is established to provide a well-equipped setup
to the key decision makers so that they could coordinate efficiently. This is
usually done in case of any natural disaster.
Crisis Communication Centre: This acts as a main command center
for the Crisis Communications Team. This facility should be equipped with
all the communication tools that the team would require in order to function
efficiently.
Media Centre: This is the particular place where the entire media
person would interact with the crisis communication team. This particular
facility would allow them to receive and disseminate complete information
about the crisis. This particular facility must have all the required equipment
for such media interaction.
3.4.5 Step Three: Identify Audiences the Organization Needs

to Reach & Formulate a Proactive Response
Further, it is essential to identify the audience that an organization
would pursue during a crisis. It would define the effectiveness of the
crisis communications plan. However, this would be defined by various
characteristics of the organization. Those characteristics are as follows.
• Management, directors, investors and various stakeholders,
• Employees and their families,
• The adjacent community,
• Government officials, regulators & other authorities,
• Media,
3.4.6 Step Four: Adopting All-Hazards Approach While

Anticipating Potential Crises.
Not adopting an all-hazard approach during framing the crisis response
plan is a common mistake made by most of the organization. Irrespective
of the nature of the business, it is essential for an organization to comply
with federal, state and local regulations. Hence, it is important to prepare
the plan accordingly. The crisis Communications Team should maintain a
proper communication within themselves and discuss the entire potential
crisis situations that the organization might face. This brainstorming would
further enable the team to introspect the current situation of the organization
and take adequate measures to avoid such situation by making changes in
the existing operational methods. Further, it would help the organization to
develop a possible response to the different crises, making it more capable
to formulate different strategies pertaining to different context. It would also
help in framing customized emergency message templates, which could be
utilized in advance to cover every possible scenario. This would reduce the
effort of the team during the time of actual crisis.
3.4.7 Step Five: Implement a Multi-Modal Mass Notification

System
It is imperative to establish early communication with the affected
communities, through their preferred mode of contact. Any mass Notification
System has multi-modal notification capability and can reach both the
internal and external stakeholders in lesser time, compared to the outdated
call-tree system, email or SMS text.
3.4.8 Step Six: Establish Monitoring & Information Gathering

Systems
In crisis communication, it is important to gather information that revolves
around the external parties as well as internal members. By having a proper
information gathering and monitoring system, the team could efficiently
identify any negative trend, and take the required measures before it gets
out of control.
Various methods can be adopted to monitor and gather information
related to the organization and a crisis. Few examples of such system would
include, Google Alerts, SEO keyword reporting, Google Analytics for
monitoring the keyword used by the audience. Apart from this, establishing
a hotline number to receive communication from external parties.
3.4.9 Step Seven: Conduct Regular Practice Drills to

Fine-Tune the Crisis Communications Plan
Further, it becomes important for the crisis communication team to conduct
the practice exercise to ensure effective functioning at the time of crisis.
The periodic practice of the action would further help in achieving the fine-
tune in the action of each individual. These practice exercise must include
everyone who would be involved in safeguarding the organization and its
members during the time of crisis.
3.4.10 Step Eight: Assessment of the Crisis Situation

It is equally important for the CMT to have a proper assessment of the
situation it had experience. This would further help identifying and gather the
accurate information. At this stage, the crisis communication team studies the
severity of the situation, takes the required measures and finally concludes
with a holding statement, which is supposed to be crisis specific. Further, the
statement should express concern for the victims and the organization and
empathize them. It should also provide a detailed information on the reason

that resulted to such situation, location of the crisis, and other related details.
Finally, the team should provide a realistic timeline of next communication.
3.4.11 Step Nine: Use Your Online Presence as a tool to Reduce

Panic and Rumors
In such crisis, the organization must utilize the online media to reduce the
panic between the society and community. To achieve that, the organization
must release the accurate information on the online channel to build trust
amongst its stakeholders. This would significantly help in bringing down
the panic level. Any initial communication established through online
medium provides an added advantage to the organization. This advantage is
gained in terms of higher rank achieved in search engines. The higher ranks
ensure widespread visibility across the internet, increasing the probability of
finding the accurate information.
3.4.12 Step Ten: Analysis of the crisis response plan & Crisis
Communication Plan
Once the plan has been executed, it is essential to analyze the effectiveness
and efficiency of the plan. It is achieved by conducting a thorough analysis
of the situation faces, the information made available during the crisis,
measures taken, and ultimately the outcome achieved. Depending on
the type of crisis an organization has just experienced, a final act by the
Crisis Communication Team could be going public with the findings of its
assessment.
3.5 CASE STUDIES
3.5.1 Case Study: The United Airlines PR Crisis

The conflict occurred in United Airlines flight number 3411, which departed
from Chicago to Louisville on April 9, 2017. Before passengers began
boarding, it was announced that the flight was overbooked. Therefore,
they asked volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for US$400, a free
hotel room and a ticket for a flight the next day. No one volunteered. When
boarding was complete, it was announced that four passengers had to leave
the plane. Again, no one volunteered, so the company decided to choose
passengers randomly. Two of the passengers left and one refused. The one
who remained said that he was a doctor and needed to get to his patients.
When he refused to leave the plane, he was forcefully dragged from his seat
and was struck in the process. The crisis started when a cell phone video
recording of the incident was published on social media.
Measures taken
When United realized that they could not get out of the scandal, the CEO
Oscar Munoz commented on the situation. He apologized for “having to
reaccommodate” the customer.
Figure 3.5: United’s Twitter update of the response to their flight boarding con-
troversy
Source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/three-biggest-social-media-manage-
ment-nightmares-2017/
This statement provoked a new wave of crisis. United’s social media
audience accused him of being disrespectful and of misidentifying the cause
of the problem. Instead of apologizing for forcing the passenger to deplane,
Munoz apologized for his inconvenience. The company’s social media
audience was indignant. They satirized the situation, created memes and
GIFs, and made jokes.
Figure 3.6: Twitter reactions of the users on United’s flight boarding contro-
versy
What’s more, United lost more than $800 million in revenue. United
was not able to manage the crisis by themselves, and they had to hire a
professional CMT.
Learning
In United’s case, the CEO apologized, but his words caused even more
indignation than before. Why was that? The instance that occurred on the
plane was quite traumatic to those that witnessed it personally and those that
saw it on video. It deserved a heartfelt response, but the tweet showed a lack
of understanding and accountability. In United’s case, the CEO’s apology
sounded as if he did not actually care, and their audience immediately felt it.
Online apologies have to be carefully crafted. Think of the emotions
that need to be addressed and consider your words carefully—“how could
this be offensive?” An apology should not sound like a press release. When
a brand makes a mistake, they need to own up to it and let the public know
they are going to address it and ensure it never happens again.
3.5.2 Case Study: Gitlab’s Data Crisis

On January 31, 2017, one of Gitlab’s software developers accidentally
removed clients’ data from the primary database server. In addition, several
backup attempts didn’t work and the company lost access to a huge amount
of data. Gitlab.com’s service was not available for 18 hours, which was
unacceptable for the company. Just to stress the gravity of the issue, Gitlab’s
clients are such companies as IBM, Sony, NASA, Alibaba, Invincea, Jülich
Research Centre, O’Reilly Media, Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ), and
CERN, and it was their code that Gitlab accidentally deleted. The crisis
started the moment Gitlab announced the issue through the social media.
Measures taken
I can’t help but admire how Gitlab managed the crisis perfectly. How did
they do it? First, Gitlab announced to their clients and their social media
audience that the issue had occurred. Next, they gave a detailed explanation
and told what happened and how they planned to fix it. A couple of days
after the incident was solved they published the detailed explanation with
the lessons they learnt. You can read a detailed analysis of the situation is in
the article “six reputation management lessons you can learn from Gitlab’s
mistake.”
And there is the interesting part comes in. Look at the social audience
engagement trend. There are two spikes—the increase of reaction to the
tweets. These two tweets with detailed explanation got the most engagement
throw all the crisis period.
Figure 3.7: Social trend of users on Gitlab’s data leak
The issue was serious, and it couldn’t be fixed fast, so Gitlab did an
interesting thing—they asked the professional community for help. They
restored access to the data in a live format, so everyone could participate and
help. Another bonus, they made communication easy:
• They made a Google Doc with live notes.
• They created the hashtag #HugOps to cover social media.
• They live-streamed on YouTube to discuss the problem-solving
process.
Gitlab created a large-scale discussion and welcomed everyone to the
online event. Thanks to these actions, Gitlab’s issue was no longer a crisis but
a challenge for the entire professional community, and those professionals
were glad to help. The issue was solved.
Figure 3.8: Twitter reactions on Gitlab’s data crisis
Lesson learnt
This strategy will not work for everyone, but if you know that you cannot
solve a problem by yourself, you could ask your social media community
for help. There will always be those that will judge you, but there will also
be those willing to help. The moment Gitlab asked for help, the situation was
transformed from a crisis into an opportunity. The problem became important
for their entire professional community. After the problem had been solved,
Gitlab’s social media audience thanked them rather than judging them for
the mistake. Therefore, the lesson here is: two heads are better than one.
Depending on your industry, asking for help could turn public opinion in
your favor. Enlist extra help to solve the problem.
REFERENCES
1. 10 Step Guide to Effective Crisis Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved
July 11, 2018, from https://www.regroup.com/welcome/content/
uploads/2013/10/10-Steps-Whitepaper.pdf
2. Bernstein, J. (2016). 10 steps of crisis communication. Retrieved July
11, 2018, from https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-
steps-of-crisis-communications
3. Crisis Communication Handbook. (2008). Swedish emergency
management agency. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.msb.
se/RibData/Filer/pdf/23992.pdf
4. Keeney, D. (2015). DPK public relations founder discusses crisis
planning. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://www.dpkpr.com/
articles/the-fundamental-truths-of-crisis-communications
5. Keeney, D. (2017). Five crisis communications fundamentals every
organization needs to know. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://
www.dpkpr.com/articles/five-crisis-communications-fundamentals
6. Nazarova, N. (2017). What we can learn from the biggest social media
management nightmares of 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2018, from https://
www.semrush.com/blog/three-biggest-social-media-management-
nightmares-2017

Fundamentals of Crisis Communication

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Fundamentals of Crisis Communication

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3

“When it comes to crisis communications, if you always focus on building a

Crisis Communication is a very basic prerequisite of the planning, response,

The Fundamentals of Crisis Communication

• Ability to explain the situation and convey the information to the

Figure 3.1: Perceptions

mentioning it in their emergency management processes and use the tool of

3.1.1 Importance of Crisis Communication

3.1.2 A Look at the Crisis and Crisis Response

Figure 3.2: Crisis and crisis response factors

communication and information accessible should always be ready for a

3.2 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING OF CRISIS

Train key people

Make the communicators ready

3.2.1 ORGANIZING TRAININGS AND EXERCISES

Methods and Channels

Figure 3.3: Various online channels for communication

of the crisis. This would be better if the person would be of some

Figure 3.4: Facebook fumbles in its crisis situation

3.3 CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS IN PLANNING,

At the most rudimentary level, the crisis communications could be divided

During the process, it is suggested for an organization facing crisis, to

3.4 THE STEPS OF CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

3.4.2 Step One-Identifying the Crisis Communications Team

Identify and Train Spokespersons

a crisis breaks but the pool of potential spokespersons should be identified

Appointing an Internal Communications Manager

Media Relations Specialist

Crisis Manager Liaison: he or she is the individual, who attends

3.4.3 Step Two: Determine the Locations Where the Crisis

3.4.4 Emergency Operations Centre

3.4.5 Step Three: Identify Audiences the Organization Needs

3.4.6 Step Four: Adopting All-Hazards Approach While

3.4.7 Step Five: Implement a Multi-Modal Mass Notification

3.4.8 Step Six: Establish Monitoring & Information Gathering

3.4.9 Step Seven: Conduct Regular Practice Drills to

3.4.10 Step Eight: Assessment of the Crisis Situation

empathize them. It should also provide a detailed information on the reason

3.4.11 Step Nine: Use Your Online Presence as a tool to Reduce

3.5 CASE STUDIES

3.5.1 Case Study: The United Airlines PR Crisis

3.5.2 Case Study: Gitlab’s Data Crisis

Figure 3.7: Social trend of users on Gitlab’s data leak

Figure 3.8: Twitter reactions on Gitlab’s data crisis

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