8-Successfully Communicating with Key Messages

Andrea Graff

Successfully Communicating with Key Messages

Reference: Summerfield, S., Benninghoven, S. (2006). Successfully communicating with key messages. Western City.

Theme: Creating a key message culture in your city will provide benefits for your organization.

Summary:

• A key message is the thing you want your audience to go away with when they are done listening to your speech or reading your website. Being able to "stay on message" requires discipline and is very different from the multi page documents some may be used to putting out.

• Creating a key message requires you to step back and thing about what you really want your audience to know. You are going to have multiple audiences that you are going to be addressing and you need to arrange your message in different ways to address the different audiences.

• You are going to need to deliver the messages to your audiences in different ways. Make sure you consider the different approaches and which one will fit best with the audience you are addressing.

• If you are met with resistance when implementing key messages showing successful case studies may be helpful. The city council and city manager must be on board for others to accept and implement the new way of doing things.

Application to the lesson topic:
Understanding what a key message is, how to create it, and who it will be delivered to is the first step of implementing them into your agency.

Application to emergency services:
If key messages aren't the current format being used, converting our agencies over will benefit not only us, but the city as well. Getting the most pertinent information to the public should be our main goal.

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James Delli Gatti

Kelly, Patterson honored for reducing crime

Reference: Mitchell, Y. (23 February 2006). Kelly, Paterson honored for reducing crime: New York Amsterdam.Delaney, New York. Vol. 97 Issue 9, p9-9, 1/3p

Theme: Disaster relief and Leadership

Summary: This news article highlights the work of two men; Raymond, W Kelly and David, A Paterson, for their work that resulted in the reduction of crime within the city. Mr. Kelly was the police commissioner of the state of New York and during his tenure as the Police Commissioner he was able to reduce crime rates within his state. Mr. Paterson was the Senate Minority Leader of the New York State Senate. Together their efforts reduced the open and shameless sale of crack cocaine on the streets of New York. During their award ceremony Paterson stated;

"The future belongs to us as we work to fulfill the dreams of our ancestors. For true freedom of race, economics, gender, and principals is to let no one ever split our ranks. Equality for all is as American as apple pie." (Mitchell, 2006)

These two men receive recognition for all of their effort and success in reducing crime and effecting positive change within the communities that they served.

 

Application to the lesson topic: These two men used their position as well as their circle of influence to effect positive change within the communities that they served. These men took responsibility for the policies and decisions that ultimately led to to the improvement of the safety and security by reducing the sale of crack cocaine within their communities.

Application to emergency services: Through the understanding of the needs of the community that they serve, the development of a plan to achieve these goals, and the follow through to complete these goals these two men were able to make the changes that the community wanted to see and garnered local support through their actions.  

 

Kelly, Paterson honored for reducing crime.   Full Text Available By: Mitchell, Yvonne Delaney. New York Amsterdam News. 2/23/2006, Vol. 97 Issue 9, p9-9. 1/3p.

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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.