industry & reform
Fourth estate friendly
How to deal with the news media
during the COVID-19 crisis.
By Pete Burdon
Dealing with the news media at any
time is stressful for many in the
aged care sector, let alone during
a major crisis. But by understanding the
media better, their requirements and how
to avoid a few invisible traps, encounters
with reporters can be turned from
perceived threats into major opportunities.
What does the media need from you?
All media need stories that will interest their
audiences. That’s why if something big
happens at your village or facility, they will
cover it. Suspected cases of coronavirus or
positive tests certainly fit into this category.
In the early stages of such a scenario,
you have an opportunity to take control of
the story because the media will come to
you first. But if you refuse to talk to them,
or you offer TV or radio reporters only a
brief written statement, they will need to
find other sources. These sources may
be less than sympathetic or get things
wrong, while your points will get minimal
coverage. If you don’t talk at all, they will
say you refused to comment. This makes
it look like you’re not in control of the
situation or don’t care.
What’s the answer?
The answer is to communicate with them,
but you need to know how to do this
properly. The big difference with media
is that unless you are talking to them in a
live broadcast interview, their stories will
only include snippets of what you say.
The same goes for any written material
they receive.
The key to control this is to be brief
and only share information that could
comfortably stand on its own if selected
by reporters to use as the focus of a
story. This goes for all communication,
because reporters have a knack for
finding anything you send to your
community, and they also keep an eye
on social media sites.
Here’s an example. You may send an
email message to your community with a
focus on empathy for your residents and
what you are doing to keep COVID-19
away. But at some point in that email,
you may say something like, “While we
understand this is a tough time for the
families of our residents, we dispute
claims that we haven’t acted quickly
enough and the virus could already
be here.”
Guess what part of that might interest
reporters? They could quote the second
part of that statement alone and base the
whole story around your denial. You would
be far better to focus on what you have
done and keep it positive.
You need a clear message
The best thing to do with any major issue
is to create a clear three-point message
and stay focused on that with all of
your communication, including emails,
social media posts and media interviews.
That doesn’t mean you say nothing
else, but that’s your focus.
An example message for COVID-19
could be the following.
• Our thoughts are with our residents and
their families.
• We are doing all we can to keep the
coronavirus away.
• The health of our residents is our absolute
top priority.
Why can’t I just send the media a
statement or get them to email me
their questions?
If we are talking about a local print reporter
that you know well, this can sometimes
work. But usually a media interview is a far
better option. Firstly, if it’s radio, they will
want your voice on tape, and if it’s TV, they
will want your picture. If they can’t get that,
they’ll need to find someone else (perhaps
a concerned relative).
Secondly, if you know how to manage
a media interview, you can continually
come back to your key points so that
there’s little else for the reporter to use
in the story. This may sound hard, but
believe me, it’s easy once you know how
and practise. Basically, it’s fairly simple to
work out the questions they will ask. Then
you answer them as briefly as possible and
transfer back to one of your points with
what are called bridging techniques. You
also package up your points in ways that
make them extremely attractive for the
reporter to use.
In contrast, it’s difficult to make your
points the focus of the subsequent story
if you get a number of questions sent
through. It also gives reporters the ability
to pull snippets from each answer to put
a story together that is completely out
of context.
In a nutshell, by understanding how
you lose the power of context with
media and mastering the art of the
media interview, you can literally turn
any media encounter into a fantastic
opportunity to get some important
messages across. ■
Pete Burdon trains aged care leaders on
how to handle the news media. For more,
see his COVID-19 video at PeteBurdon.com
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