11- EXPLORING RISK ATTENUATION AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION AFTER A PLAGUE DEATH IN GRAND CANYON - Justin Ross

Justin E. Ross

EXPLORING RISK ATTENUATION AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION AFTER A PLAGUE DEATH IN GRAND CANYON

Reference: EXPLORING RISK ATTENUATION AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION AFTER A PLAGUE DEATH IN GRAND CANYON. (2011). Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-30.

Theme: Understanding how to explain risk effectively, and how to manage the line between crisis communications and risk communications.

Summary:

• ·         It's necessary to combine psychological and sociological approaches to help in explaining

risk perception.

• ·         Some incidents produce more visceral responses than other, depending on what the circumstances of the event are.

• ·         The message really only felt important to people in which dealt directly with the risk, and therefore the information did not gain traction to a wide audience.

• ·          While the event itself did not draw a lot of media attention, professionals in the field developed a heightened interest.  This came to fruition based on future studies and publications rather than media coverage.  

• ·         Local media coverage had some penetration that left knowledge of the event in the minds of people, but the national media hardly covered the story at all.

• ·         Media coverage was fair.  There was no embellishment of the events and the outlets stuck very close to the actual press releases. 

• ·         The crisis communications that followed the event included adding signs that there were hazards in the area associated with animals.  This increased the communities understanding of the risk.

Application to the lesson topic:

This is a great case study on how some events might seem to be very important to a sizable population but still not gain any traction with the media as a whole.  Regardless of the impact the story could have on the community.

Application to emergency services:

It is important to understand what kind of communications will be important and what ones won't.  Having this knowledge will help people in the emergency management realm understand what kind of reaction to expect from the general public or disaster professionals

Justin E. Ross
j_elliotte@yahoo.com
360 609-2839