We overly concentrate on media

Many public relations professionals tend to think of a crisis in terms of the negative news coverage that it may generate and they consider news organizations to be the primary stakeholder group. In my experience, that is a mistake.

Public Relations is about relationships – it’s why I prefer the term used in French, relationist, to practitioner, communicator, or any of the myriad terms used for a professional in our industry.

Our business is establishing, improving and nurturing relationships -- not just with the media -- but with all individuals and groups critical to the success of the organizations we represent. These include employees and unions, customers, shareholders, partners, the financial community, suppliers, governments, neighbours and many others – including the media.

The stakeholder groups who are affected by the crisis need to be prioritized in terms of their importance to the future of the organization. Unless it is a disaster that results in property damage and/or casualties, the news media should be a secondary consideration.

Your crisis plan needs a strategy for trying to reach those key people with information on the crisis before they hear about it second hand from the media or someone else. In that way your organization will have the chance to explain its side of the story first. These key people, who count most in determining the future of the business, then are likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when they hear about the crisis later from some other source.