Preparing For the Crisis News

Conference
By DR. Noha Sami
When to Hold a News Conference
Successful news conferences have similar and important components. This checklist will help
you decide whether a news conference is a useful approach for your crisis, even it satisfies the
press only temporarily.

A news conference should be held when:

- Your situation is absolutely newsworthy.

- Your situation or issue would be time-consuming to explain to reporters individually.
- The issue is so large and so many potential reporters and news organizations are involved
that a news conference is the only economical means of communicating with the media and
your audiences, at least initially.
- You have considered both the strengths, weaknesses and strategy of using the news
conference as an effective communication strategy.
There are pluses and minuses to news conferences. Here are some of the more important
pros and cons:

1. News Conference Negatives:

- Reporters practice but complain about pack journalism.
- There is no assurance that reporters will ask useful questions.
- Follow-up questions can dominate the conference.
- Print and broadcast reporters have different needs, methods, goals, and objectives.
- Reporters will not be satisfied and will continue to push for individual interviews.
- Your event may be broadcast simultaneously by many reporters present.
2. News Conference Positives:
- You do exercise some message control, if you are really ready.
- You gather all interested reporters in one room at the same time.
- Your responses saturate rather than trickle out. Your story is told more closely to the way
that you want it told.
- You control the lines of inquiry because of the number of reporters. No other situation
allows this kind of coverage control.
- You may meet reporters you might never meet otherwise.
Types of Crisis News Conferences
There are three formats for dealing with many news media – news conferences, briefings,
and backgrounders.
News Conference:
A news conference is a structured meeting in which many news media are represented. In
very dramatic cases dozens to hundreds of media representatives can be present. The goal
of the news conference is to answer questions and get messages across to many different
media at the same time.
The standard format of the news conference is pretty recognizable. Usually there are one or
two spokespersons. They may or may not have prepared statements that define the scope
of the topics the news conference will cover. The basic format after opening comments is
Q&A.
News Briefing:
A news briefing is a structured open meeting where complex information is presented,
explained, and provided to the media verbally and in writing. Many individuals from the
organization may be available and prepared to talk with the news media – either by making
presentations or simply by answering reporters’ questions. T here usually is an opening
statement or summation. Virtually anything said at the briefing is on-the-record and
available for use by the news media.
News Backgrounder:
A media backgrounder is a fairly structured meeting to which only specific media are invited
to attend and participate. The information presented at such meetings is given on the
promise by the media that it will neither be used in a story nor attributed to the source of
the information. The purpose of the backgrounder is to give reporters proprietary or crucial
information that must be kept confidential but that they need in order to cover a specific
story, problem, or issue.
The backgrounder is the most difficult mass media encounter to execute successfully
because security is difficult. The media may or may not actually agree to keep the
information shared in total confidence. Most of all, news managers are frustrated by having
information they cannot use. Be very careful with this format. The reporter’s first impulse is
to get what they hear on the record, somehow, promptly. Avoid off-the-record
backgrounders. If it is a secret that matters, it will get out even if reporters have to attribute
comments – that you thought were private – to an anonymous source. The best briefings
are those that are on-the-record. If it truly is a secret, keep still.
News Conference Techniques

Telephone/Skype:
The telephone is used increasingly because of its instant availability, convenience, and real-
time value. Limitless ports are available through dozens of service providers. Telephone-
type conferences are usually one-way where the reporter e-mails or texts questions, which
are responded to, hopefully, in real time as well.
The “analyst call” technique can also be used. In this format, an operator assists the person
who convenes the teleconference by serving as the contact point during the call for listeners
who want to be put in a queue from which they can ask a question in real time. All parties to
the call hear participant questions along with the spokesperson’s response.
Mass call providers today offer three kinds of teleconferencing services:
1. Hosted, one-way, listen-only call in which participants simply dial a designated number,
are greeted by an operator, and placed in a queue until the conference call begins.
2. Fully automated conference call in which no operators are involved, the host notifies
participants of the call-in numbers (which have been selected by a computer), and time of
the call by e-mail or another convenient means. The call proceeds without any telephone
company intervention.
3. Operator-assisted call in which an operator notifies participants, starts the call, stays on
the line, and takes question requests from participants. The operator either queues
questioners on a first-come basis or queues callers in the order suggested by the
teleconference convener. Using this format you can control which questions get asked and in
which order.
e-Conferences
The Internet has become a useful tool for news conferences. So-called e-conferences have
revolutionized the news conference. This format not only permits excellent back-and-forth
between reporters and subjects, but also allows the use of a variety of media, examples,
and prepared material. Reporters may make specific requests, and responses can be e-
mailed back immediately, even while the e-conference is in progress.
What sets the e-conference apart is that reporters not only can “attend” from their desks or
another convenient location of their choice, but they can also be transported electronically
to other locations and sites to look at and ask questions about what is happening on that
scene, or to get information from other resources. The goal is twofold: a better-educated
reporter and a better chance of the news conference resulting in the stories that reflect
your desired messages.
Webcast/Web streaming
Streaming technology is improving and is becoming a dominant crisis response
methodology. For example, most investment houses now have literally non-stop telecasting
from their broker floors – either to various news outlets or to networks of their own
viewers, listeners, and customers. The content is edited and broadcast to traditional
television channels.
News Conference Planning Checklists
Setting Communications Objectives :
Here is a procedure for identifying your communication objective and defining the messages
that you need to convey.

Step 1: Write out your communication objective for the news conference in up to 150 words
(about one minute of speaking time) each.

Step 2: Try to state, in a sentence or two each, up to three really important messages or
themes about the topic or subject of your news conference.

Step 3: Say your communication objective and your messages out loud (rehearse) and refine
the language so that you can say them comfortably and often.

Step 4: Draft your second or third communication objective as described in step 1 and
develop messages as described in steps 2 and 3.
Achieving a single communication objective supported by a handful of messages is a major
accomplishment in the brief time you will have available in the crisis news conference. The
purpose for constructing the language and the words in the way described here is that they
become a script. No matter what happens during the news conference in terms of questions
or answers, you will always be able to come back to your scripted communication objective
and messages.
The Opening Statement
Once you have completed the development of your communication objective, drafting your
opening statement becomes relatively easy. Nevertheless, here are the attributes of a good
opening statement:
- Up to 150 words in length (one minute of speaking time).
- Positive words and language.
- Packaged or bundled key ideas in groupings of three facts, five ideas, four key thoughts,
etc.
- Constructed to generate specific and positive follow-up questions first.
- Stands on its own and gives complete information (who, what, why, where, when, and
how).
- Creates the positive perception you seek from reporters and, therefore, from their
readers, viewers, and listeners.
- Contains benefits to the reporters and their audiences beyond the features of the topic
or reason for which you are having the news conference.
Preparation
Learn to relax in intense circumstances. Focused preparation, proper diaphragmatic
breathing, and tension releasing exercises can reduce stress. Before you move into the news
conference area, try some sequential isometric exercises beginning in the lower part of your
body and then moving upward to your neck muscles, loosening or tightening muscle groups
in sequence.

Use a voice or video recorder to rehearse your statements, ideas, and messages out loud.
Listen to yourself. Be self-critical. Edit the language. Make it sound like you. The more time
you truly rehearse out loud, the better you’re likely to be in-person in front of the
microphone.
Set Ground Rules
Ground rules outline what will be permitted and what will not be permitted along with what
is expected of the presenter(s) and of the reporters who attend the news conference.
Typical examples of ground rules relate to the:

- Time the news conference starts.

- Time the news conference ends.
- Location of the news conference.
- Topics to be covered (without having to state the topics that cannot be covered).
- Availability of other spokespersons to clarify issues and topics raised during the news
conference.
- Media who will be admitted.
- Admission of other interested individuals including opponents or competitors.
- Time when information from the news conference can be released (so long as the timing
is reasonable).
- Number of questions and follow-up questions each reporter can ask.
- Order in which reporters will be permitted to ask questions and their follow-up
questions.
- Availability of presenters for follow-up interaction with reporters at the conclusion of the
news conference.
- Granting of individual interviews by telephone or in person following the news
conference.
References
MLA 9th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)
James E. Lukaszewski, ABC, Fellow IABC, APR, Fellow PRSA, BEPS Emeritus, and ABCI Kristen Noakes-Fry. The Manager’s
Guide to Handling the Media in Crisis : Saying & Doing the Right Thing When It Matters Most. Rothstein Publishing, 2016.

APA 7th Edition (American Psychological Assoc.)

James E. Lukaszewski, A. F. I. A. F. P. B. E., & Kristen Noakes-Fry, A. (2016). The Manager’s Guide to Handling the Media in
Crisis : Saying & Doing the Right Thing When It Matters Most. Rothstein Publishing.