National Recovery Guidance - Generic Issues - Working with the media
Background and Context
The impact of the media during a crisis cannot be underestimated. However, while during the height of an emergency there is likely to be widespread coverage, media coverage during the recovery phase can be more of a challenge.
During recovery from an emergency, there are often public information messages as important as during the height of the emergency, yet the media interest may have waned or moved onto other issues. Conversely, the need to get information out to the public involved remains. The continued involvement of local media will therefore be very important at this stage.
Policy and Guidance
England
- Chapter 7 of Emergency Preparedness (the statutory guidance which supports the Civil Contingencies Act) and Chapter 6 of Emergency Response and Recovery (the non statutory guidence to the Act) contain a wide range of guidance on communicating with the public and working with the media at, and during, an emergency.
- The BBC's Connecting in a Crisis [external website] is an initiative to help ensure that the public has the information it needs and demands during a civil emergency.
Devolved Administrations
The same issues will apply throughout the UK.
Roles and Responsibilities
Local and Regional
In common with the response to the emergency itself, it is possible that different organisations many take the media lead for the response and recovery phases. For example, the police or other emergency service may be in the lead during the response, but the recovery phase may be led by the local authority.
If there is more than one organisation involved, one area that cannot be overemphasised is the need for co-ordination and co-operation between organisations in the move from response to recovery. This ensures that while, on the one hand, the continued involvement and contact with the media appears seamless, on the other hand, there is a clear emphasis that recovery is now being led by another organisation
As a situation moves towards the recovery phase, the national media interest is likely to be confined to very significant milestones or specific events – the publication of a report or an anniversary, for example. It is at this stage that the local media's already significant role may become even more important.
During the recovery phase, the focus of the media will be on a number of specific areas – responsibility, costs, support for those involved, how organisation are rebuilding their business, how communities are coping.
Working with them to ensure that all this information is communicated could be through a wide range of options from special programmes, or slots on local radio or television programmes, to inserts in local papers – all have a role to play.
The Regional Media Emergency Forum (RMEF) will also have a role to play. The RMEF brings together a wide range of organisations – local authorities, emergency services, the Government Office, and Government News Network, to name but a few, as well as representatives from media at a local level. While their role has been mainly to establish what arrangements are required to ensure the delivery of information to the public in an emergency, they have also played a very important role in examining how to ensure that the co-ordination and information flow can be improved.
Lead Government Department
The Lead Government Department for the media response during the recovery phase may not be the same as that during the response phase. Close co-ordination between Departments' communication teams is therefore very important and the Cabinet Office may well be involved in co-ordination of this work.
The Government News Network is a government agency consisting of a national network of media professionals employed to assist all responders obtain the latest and best information, and to gather information for national media briefings. Whilst the GNN's first responsibility is to the main Category 1 responder, it can help other local responders get out their key messages.
The small size of the teams make them most effective at regional tier level, but, depending on the emergency, may be able to deploy more locally by using other staff from other regions as a back office. Whilst the lead Department for the emergency will be responsible for picking up most of the GNN bill, other Agencies deciding to use GNN in an emergency may incur a cost at some point.
Other Government Involvement
It is important to note that the media will not only address questions to the Lead Government Department, but will also approach, for comment, a wide range of Government Departments and other organisations.
Depending on the nature of the emergency, it is also possible that the Government's News Co-ordination Centre may be activated, and its role will be to ensure that the Government's messages are co-ordinated with all departments and stakeholders.
The national Media Emergency Forum also have a role to play in ensuring that the role of the media during the recovery phase continues to be an important part of the overall communications package.
The following diagram illustrates the communication flows described above:
Devolved Administrations
These issues apply in all areas of the UK.
Wales
In Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government will have a role to play in the co-ordination of the media handling strategy across Wales in close collaboration with the relevant Local Resilience Forum(s).
Scotland
[TBC]
Northern Ireland
[TBC]
Links to other topic sheets
Case Studies (Incidents and Exercises)
Avian Influenza at Bernard Matthews: February 2007
List of Contacts
COI News Distribution Service [external website]
