One of the most important communication partners during an emergency is the media.

The media serves as an

emergency broadcast system to get vital information to the people who need it most. During the beginning of a
crisis, reporters are less concerned with investigative journalism or making stories more dramatic. They, and their
audience, are more interested in knowing what happened and how to stay safe.

Here are some ways to make the most out of your relationship with the media to effectively communicate in an
emergency.

 Establish relationships with your local media agencies before a disaster.

 Provide all media outlets with the same information at the same time.

 Attempt to give reporters a reasonable timeframe to expect new information updates.

 Understand journalism deadlines and work to accommodate them. During a crisis, it is important to be
available—if necessary, around the clock—to help reporters get the facts right before their deadline.

Communicating During a Public Health Crisis

The public wants to know what the responders know during a public health crisis. They view every move and watch
every passing emotion of those responding during a disaster, crisis, or emergency. In a crisis, every word counts.
Our job as public health and emergency communicators is to offer the information the public needs and counter
some of the harmful behaviors that are common during an emergency, so we can effectively support the public,
our colleagues, and the organizations that are offering help.

The material here cannot promise that you, as a community leader faced with an emergency, crisis, or disaster, will
overcome all communication challenges in a crisis by reading this book. However, by applying crisis and emergency
risk communication (CERC) principles, you can learn what to say, when to say it, and how to say it to help you
preserve or win the public’s trust. More importantly, it can save lives.

6 principles1 of effective crisis and risk communication are emphasized:

1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. For
members of the public, the first source of information often becomes the preferred source.
2. Be Right: Accuracy establishes credibility. Information can include what is known, what is not known, and
what is being done to fill in the gaps.
3. Be Credible: Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises.
4. Express Empathy: Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words. Addressing what
people are feeling, and the challenges they face, builds trust and rapport.
5. Promote Action: Giving people meaningful things to do calms anxiety, helps restore order, and promotes a
restored sense of control.
6. Show Respect: Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable. Respectful
communication promotes cooperation and rapport.

Crisis Communication
The term “crisis communication” is generally used in two ways:
1. It describes the communication activities of an organization or agency facing a crisis. They need to
communicate about that crisis to their organization, various partners, and the public. Typically, a crisis: yyOccurs
unexpectedly

2. yyMay not be in the organization’s control

3. yyRequires an immediate response

4. yyMay cause harm to the organization’s reputation, image, or viability

5.

As an example, the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in India19 was a crisis confronted by an organization that faced
blame for the situation. The company faced legal challenges and negative public reactions for many years
after the crisis. This organization faced some legal or ethical responsibility for the crisis (unlike a disaster,
where, for example, a tornado does the damage). The public and many stakeholders judged the
organization based on their actions throughout the response.

1. The term “crisis communication” is associated more with emergency management and the need to inform and
alert the public about an event. In this case, crisis communication might refer to the community leaders’
efforts to inform the public.

For example, leaders might need to evacuate a community in advance of a hurricane. In this definition, the
organization is not facing a threat to its reputation or image. The effort to inform and warn the public is universally
recognized as important. Many public alert systems, like the old Emergency Broadcast System and the new
Commercial Mobile Alert System are based on this form of crisis communication.

Risk Communication
The field of environmental health elevated the prominence of risk communication. Through risk communication,
the communicator hopes to provide the audience with information about the expected type (good or bad) and
magnitude (weak or strong) of an outcome from a behavior or exposure. Typically, risk communication involves a
discussion about adverse outcomes, including the probabilities of those outcomes occurring. In some instances,
risk communication has been used to help an individual make a decision in response to many questions, including
the following:

Should I undergo a medical treatment?

What are the risks of living next to a nuclear power plant?
Do I elect to vaccinate a healthy baby against whooping cough?

In some cases, risk communication is used to help individuals adjust to something that has already occurred, such
as exposure to harmful carcinogens, possibly putting them at greater risk for cancer. Risk communication would
prepare people for that possibility. If warranted, the communication would offer steps to take to lower their
chance of dying from cancer, such as screenings.

Issues Management Communication

Issues management communication can be similar to crisis communication. An issue is a public question that has
generated some interest by stakeholders. Questions about vaccine safety, for example, have generated concern
among some groups. Their worry has sparked a great deal of public debate. Issues management involves using
communication to influence how the organization responds to the issue and how it is potentially resolved. In some
cases, an issue can become a crisis. Issues managers have forewarning that an issue is developing. Issues may
develop more slowly and continue over extended periods. Managers typically have more time to respond to issues
than they would to a crisis. Again, the organization or agency is central to the event.
The Communication Lifecycle

Understanding the pattern of a crisis can help communicators anticipate problems and appropriately respond. For
communicators, it’s vital to know that every emergency, disaster, or crisis evolves in phases. The communication,
too, must evolve through these changes. By dividing the crisis into the following phases, the communicator can
anticipate the information needs of the media, agencies, organizations, and the general public. For each of these
phases, specific types of information need to be created and delivered to your audience.

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Lifecycle

1st stage Pre-Crisis Maintenance Resolution Evaluation

Be prepared.
Foster alliances.
Develop consensus recommendations.
Test messages.

2nd stage Initial

Acknowledge the event with empathy.

Explain and inform the public, in simplest forms, about the risk.
Establish agency and spokesperson credibility.
Provide emergency courses of action, including how and where to get more information.
Commit to stakeholders and the public to continue communication

3rd stage Maintenance

Help the public more accurately understand its own risks.

Provide background and encompassing information to those who need it.
Gain understanding and support for response and recovery plans.
Listen to stakeholder and audience feedback, and correct misinformation.
Explain emergency recommendations.
Empower risk/benefit decision-making

4th stage Resolution

Improve appropriate public response in future similar emergencies through education.

Honestly examine problems and mishaps, and then reinforce what worked in the recovery and response efforts.
Persuade the public to support public policy and resource allocation to the problem.
Promote the activities and capabilities of the agency, including reinforcing its corporate identity, both internally
and externally.

5th stage Evaluation

Evaluate communication plan performance.
Document lessons learned.
Determine specific actions to improve crisis systems or the crisis plan.

Type of Hazard Definition Examples

Bioterrorism Deliberate release of viruses,

bacteria, or other germs (agents) yyAnthrax
used to cause illness or death in yyBotulism
people, animals, or plants. yyBrucellosis
yyPlague
yySmallpox
yyTularemia

Chemical Emergencies An emergency involving the

intentional or unintentional release yyCarbon monoxide
of a chemical that could harm yyChlorine
people’s health. yyMercury
yyNerve agents
yyOil Spill
yyRicin

Infectious Disease Outbreaks An emergency involving

unintentional release of viruses, yyCholera
bacteria, or other microorganisms yyE. coli infection
that causes illness or death in yyPandemic flu
people, animals, or plants. yyMRSA infection
yyWhooping cough
yySalmonella infection

Natural Disasters and Severe A disaster in which the proximate

Weather cause is a natural hazard. Due to yyEarthquakes
their scope and scale, a natural yyFloods
disaster can be a mass causality yyHurricanes
event. It can be accompanied by yyLandslides/mudslides
severe economic impact. Natural yyTornadoes
disasters are particularly severe in yyWildfires
infrastructure poor regions and yyWinter weather
nations.

Radiation Emergencies An emergency involving the release

of radiation that could harm yyNuclear accident
people’s health. yyNuclear blast
yyRadiation dispersal device (dirty
bomb)
yyTransportation accident

Explosions Explosion or blast producing

numerous casualties with complex, yyIndustrial explosions
 technically challenging injuries—not yyTerrorist bombings
commonly seen after natural yyMilitary strikes
disasters.

Type of Incident Definition Examples

Biological Incident Naturally occurring biological

diseases (communicable and non- yyAnthrax
communicable) in humans—as well yyBotulism
as those used in a terrorist event. yyH1N1 flu
yyRicin
yySmallpox

Cyber Incident Any incident of national significance

with cyber-related issues. yyCyber attacks against Internet
yyCyber attacks against critical
infrastructure information systems
yyTechnological emergencies

Food and Agricultural Incident This is a threat to public health,

animal health, food production, yyE. coli infection
aquaculture, livestock production, yyMad Cow Disease
wildlife, soils, rangelands, and yyMelamine contamination
agricultural water supplies. yySalmonella infection

Natural Disaster A disaster caused by natural events.

Due to their scope and scale, a yyEarthquakes
natural disaster can be a mass yyFloods
casualty event. yyHurricanes
yyLandslides/ mudslides
Natural events are almost always yySevere weather
accompanied by a severe economic yySevere winter weather or ice
effect. They are particularly harsh in storms
poor regions and nations, where yyTornadoes
bridges, buildings, and structures do yyWildfires
not remain intact.

Nuclear or Radiological Incident Release of radioactive material that

poses an actual or perceived hazard yyNuclear accident
to public health, safety, national yyNuclear blast
security, or the environment. yyRadiation Dispersal Device
yyTransportation accident

Oil and Hazardous Materials Incident A threat to public health, welfare, or

the environment caused by an event yyChemical spill
from oil or other hazardous yyGround water contamination
materials. yyOil spill
yyWaste transportation accident

Terrorism Incident A threatened or actual terrorist

yyBiological threats
 incident within the United States. yyChemical threats
yyExplosions
yyNuclear blast
yyRadiological dispersion device

Sources: US Department of Health and Human Services;Crisis Emergency and Risk Communication. Be First, Be
Right, Be Credible. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2014 ed.

Potter, Deborah and Ricchiardi, Sherry ; Disaster and Crisis Coverage; International Center for Joutnalists 2017