NEW IPO Logo - by Charles Larry Home Search Browse About IPO Staff Links


Good media relations, developed long before a crisis, is your best defense


Lynn McClure
IAPD Public Relations Director

 
 
 

The media is going to try to keep your situation alive as a news story as long as they can in order to fill time on radio or TV and space in the newspaper.

In the last issue of Illinois Parks & Recreation, Mixed Media explored the importance of having a crisis communication plan. Because a crisis can come along when you least expect it, preparation is instrumental in getting your message to the public. This is the second, and final installment of "Communicating in a Crisis."

A crisis, or any unforeseen event, causes a disruption in your day-to-day operations. When crises occur it is tremendously important to get information—the right information—out to the public as quickly as possible. To get this accomplished, you usually have to go through the media. This is when a good relationship with the people carrying microphones and reporter's notepads will go a long way.

If you have always been honest and up-front with media, and generally only had "good news" to report, chances are you will get a fair shake when a crisis encompasses your agency. On the other hand, if there has been turmoil within your agency, conflict between members of your board, or less than Utopian relationships with media in the past, a crisis situation is only going to serve to magnify those problems.

Regardless of past relations, before you approach a media interview you should keep a few key points in mind. First, have a maximum of two or three positive points firmly ingrained in your mind. It is easy to get sidetracked by the media, but if you have these points memorized, it will be easier to get the message across. And get it across often. People have to hear things as many as seven times to remember them, so repeat your points often during the course of an interview.

By extending your hand to the media in the quiet and routine times, they will at least understand you better in times of crisis.

Learn the technique of bridging. Politicians use this technique quite often to inform people about their platforms. If the media do not address exactly the areas you want them to, use lines like "I believe the main issue is..." or "What I think people need to understand is..." as a bridge to the points you want to make.

If a situation is difficult to explain easily, use analogies. About 15 years ago when the agricultural community talked about the effects of farmers using the chemical Alar to treat apple trees, they used a great analogy. The amount of Alar being sprayed on apple orchards was like an aspirin being dropped into a city's water supply. When the small aspirin dispersed in the tank, there would be but a scant trace of it detectable.

When the media come calling or knocking, regardless of the situation and regardless of what information you have on hand to give them, declining to comment is different than saying "no comment!" If you say you have no comment, you are in essence admitting guilt and putting up barriers at a time when you need the media's support.

Media Relations, Before a Crisis

In reality, most of the time a park district or other local governmental agency operates in a non-crisis atmosphere. It is during those times that you want to prepare for the tough times. Work on media relations and start building the foundation that will be important in a crisis.

Don't assume that members of the media remember

September/October 2002 39


what your organization stands for. Tell them. Because of the high turnover rate among reporters who cover your beat, you could schedule a media background session once a year or as your community's situation warrants.

For a successful media background session, assemble your key staff and schedule a media lunch. Invite the reporters who cover the park district from radio, TV, and print. Depending on your region, TV reporters may or may not be willing to attend. Send invitations to the newspaper editor or, at the very least, to a member of the editorial board. Hold the luncheon at one of your facilities and have a light lunch available—reporters like free food. Let them know this is a background session and not something you expect them to "cover."

Assemble folders with information that includes a background piece on your agency, fact sheets on each of your facilities or program areas, your most recent recreation guide, and brochures from your major parks or facilities. Most importantly, include a list of contact names of your key staff with home phone and cell phone numbers. By giving media a list such as this you are letting them know you are available and willing to help at any hour on any day.

When media is seated, the director or board president welcomes the group. Then key staff members take no more than five minutes to briefly explain what they do for the district and any projects they currently have scheduled. This is a good time to update on facility renovation, grants received, program participation, or other district initiatives. After each staff person is finished, answer questions. The reporters are out within an hour.

Chances are that after bridging the gap and extending your hand to the media in the quiet and routine times, they will at least understand you better in times of crisis. And the media is a necessary bedfellow when you have to get your side of the story to the public you both serve.

40 Illinois Parks and Recreation


|Home| |Search| |Back to Periodicals Available| |Table of Contents| |Back to Illinois Parks & Recreation 2002|
Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) is a digital imaging project at the Northern Illinois University Libraries funded by the Illinois State Library