Two years into my first crisis communications job, I felt salty. I had my “trial by fire” case in the first month, and came out of it unscathed. I had been interviewed by reporters hundreds of times for dozens of emergencies. Given the facts of a case, I could whip out a serviceable, well-constructed news […]
Author Archives: brandon brewer
If you’re a crisis communicator, you routinely have bad news to give people who are affected by the latest disaster. In the midst of responding to crisis, your job is to build and/or maintain people’s trust and credibility in you and your organization’s abilities. Being transparent with bad news – while telling people what you’re […]
“BLUF.” It means, “bottom line, up front.” Insert it at the beginning of any piece of written communication, and you’re telling those receiving the message, “this is most important.” If you’re a professional communicator, it’s the same thing as “flagging” during media interviews. So, what’s the BLUF when it comes to collaborative crisis communications? The […]
The first chapter of Kathleen Fearn-Banks’ “Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach,” covers – as the chapter title indicates – “Crisis Communications Today.” Several topics in the text stood out for me during a recent reading: 1. The importance of being able to clearly define what constitutes a crisis A key point during a discussion of […]
Being a public information officer for an organization with a diverse array of nearly a dozen distinct missions made every day exciting. On any given day, I might be talking to the media and stakeholders about maritime search and rescue and law enforcement, chemical and petroleum environmental pollution response or how icebergs in the North […]
The Crisis Communicator 