Schillings sports conference 2011: After the horse has bolted - weathering a media crisis
Sport
Comment | 23 March 2011
The old adage that ‘a lie is halfway around the world before the truth has got a chance to get its pants on’ neatly demonstrates the point that if you can properly prepare for a crisis then you have a better chance of getting out the starting blocks once the phone has started ringing and limiting both the spread and depth of media interest.
The second of the two track sessions at the Schillings annual sports conference focussed on how to deal with a media crisis and the steps that you can take once the story is about to break. Interestingly all of the speakers highlighted the fact that the best way to weather a media crisis was to properly prepare for it before the crisis happened.
Once the speakers had stressed the need for proper preparation, there was a good discussion about how to respond in a crisis and a clear unanimity appeared between the legal and PR responses and how from working together a clear and concise response can be put in place and communicated and negative media can be addressed head on.
The session ended with the panel discussing a case study and it became clear that in practical situations it was important that to orchestrate an effective response one must quickly ascertain the facts and, if a crisis plan and team were not already in place, that these were quickly put in place. Speed, it was agreed by all, is essential to responding effectively and preparation is the key to improving both the speed and consistency of your response. It was a stimulating session that prompted a number of questions and there was a lively debate how best to respond to a media crisis.
