Lucía Casanueva, founding partner of Proa Comunicación, recently participated as a speaker at the Agers Forum (Spanish Association of Risk and Insurance Management) on "Crisis Management: guidelines for urgent action" in which different experts analysed a case of an international incident with significant damage and environmental implications, proposing how to react in the first moments, after a month and after a year. In this way, this practical exercise brought together the versions of the different actors involved in an incident: risk manager, insurance company, communications agency and legal services.
Lucía Casanueva stressed the importance of having a single spokesperson towards the authorities, internal audiences and the media in order for the message to be coherent and effective; as when there are many spokespersons it is easy to fall into rumour-mongering, which is fatal in the first 24/72 hours, critical for proper crisis management.
Thus, dealing with urgent messages is essential to provide information about those injured or affected, if any, just as it is essential to to ensure adequate internal communication. We need allies not only in public opinion, authorities, media, but also among our workers.
"Public opinion does not forgive lies, but it does forgive delays".
Crisis communication appeals to common sense. You need to provide information, give facts and convey that you are trying to do the best you can, because it is when the tension subsides that you can make the right decisions in the medium term. It is also important to follow up on all news coverage, pursuing that those untruthful data are corrected in the form of immediate and effective.