Principles of Crisis Communication by Sani Usman Kukasheka
In the armed forces, ‘Media Operation’ is a “deliberate attempt to inform the media more accurately in order to create a more reasonable and balanced understanding of the mission and objectives, as well as what it can be expected to achieve”. This in essence covers what to say and what not to say. More often than not, Media Operation is more or less crisis communication.
The goal of every Crisis Communication is to maintain the capacity to guide the resolution of the crisis. To effectively achieve this, there is the need for all the management or spokespersons of an organisation to be aware of the principles of Media Operations which are equally the principles of crisis communication. These principles are:
a. End-state.
Crisis Communication should focus on the desired end-state. Accordingly, they form an integral part of the campaign plan, to achieve and sustain domination of the integrated battle space. The main effort of crisis communication is to communicate the principle themes and messages in pursuit of the end-state, whilst remaining sensitive to the media focus and areas of interest of the target audience. It therefore implies that a line of campaign is needed to be pursued during the management of the crisis. This would help shape the outcome of the situation.
b. The Truth.
All communication with the public and media must be honest, transparent and accurate. Spokespersons should ensure the integrity of the information which they pass to the media. Information should be withheld only when disclosure would adversely affect organisation or company and individual privacy or operational security. Deliberately misleading the media must be avoided, no matter how tempting or tactically advantageous it may seem. It becomes imperative that to communicate the truth, all staff of an organisation need to be well informed of actions being taken by the organisation and why. This would knock off speculation and false dissemination of information.
c. Credibility.
Communication during a crisis should be credible with the employees, members of the public, and the media. Once credibility is lost with the media, room is thus created for the media to write in a speculative and assumptions manner. The grave effect of this is expressed in Napoleon’s words when he said, “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets”
d. Security.
Statements issued to the media must not provide information that could jeopardize the operations or integrity of an organisation. Information should not be classified or otherwise withheld purely to protect the organisation from criticism or embarrassment. In some cases, it may be necessary to seek media cooperation in not reporting a particular event for security reasons. When releasing information, spokespersons should use their judgment to balance the requirement of openness with the dangers of putting the organisation’s reputation or the lives of others at risk. The need to balance organisation’s policy requirements and the need for news often form the basis of the conflict between the media and the spokespersons. It is therefore important to cultivate the media’s understanding and set some criteria which should be explained to them in a friendly and detailed manner.
e. Timeliness.
The globalisation of communications and accelerating demand for information has turned newsgathering by the media into an unrelenting, 24-hour activity. Spokespersons have to be swift and responsive to press inquiries. There should also be a mechanism to verify, correct, and rebut stories about an organisation as soon as possible. Withholding information and delaying the media during a crisis could be very costly. You need to understand the speed required in newsgathering, processing, intervention, and dissemination. This sometimes explains the impatience of the journalist. Spokespersons therefore need to think fast and give accurate information.
*Brig Gen Sani Kukasheka Usman (rtd), a former spokesperson of the Nigerian Army, is the Advisory Board Chair of Spokesperson’s Digest. He is a member of the National Institute (mni), a Fellow and Governing Council member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), a Fellow African Public Relations Association (fapra), and a Fellow of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (fnarc).
