DelliGatti_ESMG_4200_Reading_summary_2

James Delli Gatti

Legal and ethical issues related to media disaster coverage

Reference: Andrews, K. (Summer,1989). Airline Disaster Highlights Need for Ethical Coverage: Journalism Educator. Texas Tech University, Texas. Vol. 44 Issue 2, p50-76, 3p

Theme: Legal and ethical issues related to media disaster coverage

Summary: The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for sensitivity toward the victims and the loved ones of the victims of disasters by the mass media; when covering disasters, without compromising the quality and the information presented to the public.  In this article the author mentions several scenarios where reporters were being disruptive during religious sermons that were intended to provide some grief counseling to the families of the victims of the tragedy, as well as calling the homes of known deceased victims with the sole purpose of recording the reactions of the loved ones.

The author goes on to state that while sensitivity of the tragedy should be observed that the job of the reporter is to try to provide an objective assessment of the situation, and provide the community with accurate and up to date information regarding the tragedy, because the tragedy affects more people than just the victims' families and these people also have a right o have access to this information as well.

 

Application to the lesson topic: While the reporters have the ethical obligation to be sensitive to the loved ones of the victims of tragedies our constitution provides for the press to be able to report freely on issues to inform the community as to what is going on around them.

Application to emergency services: Often the news media can arrive on a scene of tragedy while the incident is being mitigated. It is important that the news media be allowed to inform the local population regarding the incident; however it is up to us as emergency service personnel to assist the victims in maintaining some semblance of dignity during the process.

8 - 5 Steps to Preparing for a Successful Interview - Michael Newland

 Michael Newland

Reference:

Wetherhead, D. (2012, September 17). Media Training: A 5 Step Process To Drive Message Development And Interview Preparation. Retrieved from Comprehension: http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=5048

Theme:

In order to communicate effectively you must hone your skills with media training and practice. There are 5 steps to follow during preparation for an interview.

Summary:

·         1. Set an Agenda. Before each interview, identify your business objective(s) to clarify who you need to reach and what you want to say.

·         2. Craft Key Messages. “With repeated use, key messages ensure dissemination of clear, consistent and compelling information. This critical tool can help you prioritize information, stay focused and obtain measurable results.” You should describe your product, service, program, organization or point of view. Differentiate it from others. Focus on the benefits to the target audience.

·         3. Prove Your Points. “Your goal is to introduce and reinforce key messages. Supporting information can extend a conversation, offering proof and adding credibility.”

·         4. Ready for Q&A. Speculate about potential interview questions. “You can arm yourself with key message-laden responses and seek needed data or counsel in advance of the interview.

·         5. Make a Lasting Impression. “Because people often remember what they hear first and last, it’s worthwhile to pre-plan a meaningful closing statement that reinforces your benefit statement. It will resonate with your target audience and drive a desired response.”

Application to the Lesson Topic:

The lesson topic is interviews and how to prepare for them. This article gives 5 steps to preparing for a successful interview. If you don’t prepare then you and your organization your representing are going to look sloppy which will hurt the perception of you and your organization.

Application to Emergency Services:

At one point or another some emergency responders will give an interview. It is important for them to know how to give a good interview in order to protect themselves and their organization.

And the winner is ...

Four people have summarized this article: Veil, S. R. (2012). Clearing the Air: Journalists and Emergency Managers Discuss Disaster Response. Journal Of Applied Communication Research, 40(3), 289-306. doi:10.1080/00909882.2012.679672

Check to see if someone else has summarized the article you are thinking of summarizing. (Don't summarize the same article someone else has already summarized.)  You can do this by putting key words or the author's name in the search box at the top left hand corner of the blog.

- John Fisher

7- Mazmizing Media Coverage - Sylvia C Kearney

Reading Summary 7 By Sylvia C Kearney

Reference: Gosnell, A. R. (2000). MAXIMIZING MEDIA COVERAGE. Fire Engineering, 153(5), 93.

Theme: As a Public Information Officer, PIO, it is important to not only get along with the media, but to let them know early on about an incident. This way you have an opportunity to not only advertise your department but also advertise for it.

Summary: There are five easy steps to remember how to best work with the news media and tell your factual story about the incident.

§  Early notification – this is while you are responding to an incident. Send a “teaser” to the news media. A teaser can look like this:

BREAKING NEWS

5 ALARM FIRE at

PROVO TABERNACLE on

SOUTH UNIVERSITY in PROVO

PIO EN ROUTE

CALL IN CAR  (801) 830-8212

*****

A template can be set up in most any phones, ready to be sent to all news reporters in your address book.

§  Follow-up notification and verification: If you have some reporters on speed dial, call them and follow up and invite them to come and cover the story.

§  On-scene coverage: Once you arrive on scene, it is important to gather information quickly from the Incident Commander, who will expect you to take over responsibility as a PIO. This is another moment where it is important to introduce yourself to the Police and other section officers to let them know who you are. It is important to stay in close communication with the media. If you have not received much information at least report what has happened and then promise to offer more info as it becomes available. Keep your promise to all media, and set them up as close as it is allowed to the scene.

§  Wrap-up or summary: This is the moment where you write a news release. This would entail a fact filled report including historical information and as much information about the incident as possible. This release can come in handy for news agencies that did not get to be on scene, or radio reports, or other future use.

§  Follow-up: The PIO will be the last person to leave the scene, since he has to evaluate the situation. In the case of the Provo Tabernacle, a lot of questions where asked, even many days after the fire was put out.

Application to lesson topic: Being a PIO is an important job that can be exciting and yet very informative. The main part in all of this is the understanding of becoming acquainted with news media in more than just one way.

Application to emergency services: It is most beneficial as a PIO in emergency services to be prepared before an incident even happens. Just like firefighters are prepared to fight a fire, the PIO needs to be involved with the media prior to his response and on the way to the scene, to receive the maximum coverage of his story and not that of hearsay.

7 - Constructing Press Releases, Constructing Quotations: A Case Study - By Robert Letterman

Robert Letterman

Reference

Sleurs, K., Jacobs, G., & Van Waes, L. (2003). Constructing Press Releases, Constructing Quotations: A Case Study. Journal of Sociolinguists, 192-212.

Theme

               The process of constructing press releases and the concept of pre-formulation of responses to the media is analyzed and discussed.

Summary

·        It's important for leaders in public and private organizations to be more proactive when interacting and providing information to the media.

·        Learning how to do business with the media by developing a relationship with them is important.  Having informal meetings with them such as having lunch with member of the media will be beneficial when a crisis arises.

·        Press releases not only need to be able to compete for the attention of journalists but need to be accurate as well.

·        The use of quotations is press releases from credible sources can help aid the validity and power of the message you are trying to communicate.

·        The writing process to collect and extract data is important and requires a skilled individual who understands how to take the information given to produce a quality press release.

Application

               This article comes from a different perspective.  I think understanding how public relations firms construct and mold messages for businesses and other clients is valuable to apply to the work of a public information officer. 

               A PIO will need to have specific responses to incidents prepared before it's needed.  Although no crisis is the same the approach and information that will be relayed to media and the public will be similar. 

7 - Press Releases and Their Visibility in the Media - Martin de la Cruz

Reference:

Alcoceba-Hernando, J. (2010). Analysis of Institutional Press Releases and Its Visibility in the Press. Revista Latina De Communicacion Social, 13(55), 1-13. Doi:10.4185/RCLS-65-2010-904-354-367-EN. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uvu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=77d345ec-a889-4d9a-bacf-906738c78863%40sessionmgr10&vid=3&hid=6 on October 24, 2013.

Theme:

The theme of this article was an analysis of the relationship between public perception of issues was influenced by institutional press releases and the visibility given to those press releases by the media.

Summary:

·         The communication between organizations and the media affects the public perception of public issues.

·         Organizations need to publicize their activities to the public.

·         Messages from organizations seek to inform the public about the organization and its activities through the media.

·         Public perception of the organization is largely dependent on the relationship between the organization and the media.

·         The balance between garnering media attention and giving the public useful information requires knowledge of the organization and knowledge of the media and how it operates.

Application to Lesson Topic:

This article highlights the relationship between public perception of orgnaizations as influenced by the media. The media receive information from press releases from the organization. What sort of  media attention is given to an organization’s press releases depends on the relationship between the media and that organization.

Application to Emergency Services:

In order to maintain a positive public image and be effective in disseminating information to the public through press releases to the media, it is necessary to develop a good relationship with the media and know what will gain their attention.

7 - Retractions, press releases and newspaper coverage - Chris Schippers

Chris Schippers

Reference:

Rada, R. F. (2007). Retractions, press releases and newspaper coverage. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 24(3), 210-215. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2007.00724.x Retrieved from http://ezproxy.uvu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=26218738&site=ehost-live on October 24, 2013.

Theme:

The theme of this article was to see how often newspapers covered a retracted medical journal article and if it was preceded by a press release.  In other words, newspapers would only cover a retraction of a medical journal article if it were presented first with a press release.

Summary:

·         Retracted medical publications represent a serious problem

·         Mistakes are more common than misconduct

·         Retraction articles vary widely in style and scope

·         A study of international newspapers suggested that press releases provide the primary source material

·         Press releases do not highlight study limitations, the role of industry funding, and they tend to exaggerate the importance of findings

·         Print media provides more reliable health care news than online media and the media generally sensationalize to improve market share

·         Discusses the case study of 50 retracted publications and raises questions

·         Is a newspaper more likely to report on a retracted publication after a press release appears about the retraction than when no press release appears?

·         Medical librarians should know how the mass media works in comparison to scholarly, medical literature content analysis on these retrieved newspaper articles and press releases provides data from which to infer relationships among the three, different, retrieved document samples, and thus to address the questions raised earlier.

·         This article talks more about retracted medical journals than press releases

Application to the Lesson Topic:

Unfortunately, this article did focus a whole lot on press releases by themselves, instead it focused on the on how newspapers cover retractions of medical journals.  The only time this article referenced a press release was when one was written about a medical journal retraction due to some error or misconduct of the journal.

Application to Emergency Services:

I was unable to see the correlation and understand how this article might be applied to emergency services.  If I had to take a stab in the dark about how it might relate, I would suggest the information given in this article and the talk of error and misconduct being exposed in press release could be related to how important it is for EMS workers to watch their conduct and pay attention to the reports they fill out.