Communicating in a Crisis:

Risk Communication Guidelines for Public Officials

Table of Contents

Introduction

Communications Fundamentals

Communicating Complex, Scientific, and Technical Information

Myths, Principles, and Pitfalls

Understanding and Working with the Media

Correcting Errors and Rumor Control

Assessing Personal Strengths and Weaknesses

Presenting Information at Public Meetings

Recognizing Opportunities to Speak Out

Suggested Reading and Resources

References


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Correcting Errors and Rumor Control

If substantive inaccuracies (i.e., inaccuracies that have the potential to further a crisis or problem) occur, you should move very quickly to correct them. Remember—the longer misinformation remains viable in the information environment, the more difficult it becomes to correct.

HOW TO RESPOND TO SUBSTANTIVE INACCURACIES AND RUMORS:

Move quickly to correct them.

Keep the level of your response appropriate to the level of the problem.

– Overreacting to an isolated mistake will only attract attention to the very problem you are trying to correct. (A single yet important error of fact in a newspaper article would probably be best dealt with by a polite call to the reporter who made the error.)

– Underreacting to widely reported information that is not correct will only allow for a compounding of the error. (In this case a public statement or even a news conference might be most in order.)

If a damaging rumor is confined to a small audience, correct it within that group, don’t create a major public event.

If a damaging rumor is widely known and spreading—making it difficult for you to reach your communications goals—you should move aggressively and very publicly to correct it.

When squelching a rumor, try to anticipate how the rumor might evolve in response to your efforts and be as thorough as you can in closing off possible avenues of future, similar rumors.

For example, if the rumor is that, “The police are planning to evacuate the downtown area,” your response should be clear and unequivocal: “There are NO plans to evacuate any section of the city,” so that the details of the rumor can’t change into something like—“The National Guard is planning to evacuate the city.”

Be careful, too, that your comments don’t leave the wrong impression and are not open to interpretation. In the above example, for instance, care should be taken to ensure that the statement does not generate the headline, “Officials Concede City Lacks Evacuation Plan.” Such a headline could be avoided by adding a statement that further dispels the rumor by clarifying the evacuation issue. For example, “There are no plans to evacuate any section of the city. We have a long-standing emergency preparedness plan in place, and if it were to be activated, the public would be given notice immediately by the Mayor.”