In any crisis such as the one portrayed in the scenario, it is important to have a plan of communication. The scenario we have is that a life threatening biological agent has contaminated the water supplies of a number of towns. The first step in any effective crisis communication is to anticipate the crisis. This allows contingency measures to be put in place. This ensures that once the crisis occurs, it is possible to know the steps that will be followed henceforth. The second step is identifying members of the communication team. The mayor of the city is going to be the head of this communication team as it is ultimately his responsibility to ensure the safety of the citizens. Technicians at the water supply points will be responsible for handling the crisis at the ground level. They will have to update the mayor’s office with updates on the situation at the ground.
The mayor’s spokesperson will then be responsible for communicating to the public. Because of the sensitivity of the situation, it is important to ensure different communication channels both internally and with the public. This is because it is a sensitive crisis and it is important to ensure that there is no panic by members of the public. At the same time, the members of the public will have to be sufficiently informed in order to ensure that they are aware of the danger of the situation. Finally, the mayor’s office will have to communicate with the city’s health department to ensure that any health issues because of the crisis are identified and handled correctly. The spokesperson of the mayor’s office will be responsible for all communications. As such, the spokesperson must always be informed of the actions of the operations team working to resolve the crisis (Sellnow, 2009).
Among the most important pieces of information they must have is the expected time to bring the crisis under control (Sellnow, 2009). Unlike in the past where the main means of communication was through the media, the communications team has access to social media. In the past, people had to wait for a primetime news bulletins to have access to news items. However, social media can ensure that such news items are disseminated immediately to the public. When used correctly, it can serve as an alternative communication medium. However, there are limitations to use of social media with the main issue being authenticating the reports. This is where traditional media outlets can be used. Due to their resources, they are able to get the main actors involved to give clarifications to the public using their outlets. This can supplement the use of social media (Zaremba, 2014).
Communication processes used in crisis
There are two major types of crisis communication, the first being corporate crisis communication (CCC) and the second being crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC). In CCC, there is a likelihood of a company losing a lot of money while in CERC there are a lot of lives that are at risk. The main differences between the two are that in CERC, transparency is crucial, the communication is widespread, and the message of the communication is responsible for the containment measures. This contrasts to CCC where the main aim is to contain the damage, therefore transparency is avoided and the communication is limited (Coombs, 2012).
The processes identified for communication in a crisis can also be used to improve everyday communication especially in improving healthcare communication strategies. When a patient is booked in a hospital, they can give their telephone number or email address. Using a form of customer relationship management system, they can be posted via these channels on their latest updates. Information that can be passed to patients includes date of their next checkups and so on. Such a system that is effectively used in a crisis can be used to improve healthcare communication strategies. In case of any public health emergency, social media can also be used to keep the public informed of the issue and also provide information on preventive measures.
In recent years, communication has moved from media outlets as the content providers and the consumer is now largely the content provider. This has been made possible by the advent of social media. Social media allows every citizen to act as a journalist and they can spread news from their location. This has also been enhanced by the availability of smart gadgets that allow easy capturing of news such as mobile phones that allow video and photo capture and easy uploading on the internet. The nature of social media platforms also allows easy filing of reports from the field. However, the main disadvantage of social media is the difficulty in authenticating the news.
Most of the citizens in the area are likely to have access to a mobile phone, which is registered in the city. The city can take advantage of this and create a mailing list for all the citizens in the affected areas. Text messages or email messages can be sent by the city to individuals to ensure that they are notified of the situation. Apart from text messaging and email messaging, it is also possible to use instant messaging to reach the public. The number of people who use instant messaging is very high. In order to ensure that the communication effectively reaches all the concerned people, it is advisable to use multiple communication channels to reach all the individuals concerned (Zaremba, 2014).
References
Coombs, W. T. (2012). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
Sellnow, T. L. (2009). Effective risk communication: A message-centered approach. New York: Springer.
Zaremba, A. J. (2014). Crisis Communication: Theory and Practice. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
