The Sago mine disaster this week in West Virginia is a cruel, cruel call for sensible crisis communications planning by businesses and other organizations.
As Editor & Publisher recounted, the media mistakes created an emotional disaster on the order of the original disaster, an explosion in the underground mine.
I think a few crucial steps in crisis communications were lost at Sago mine. They are:
- No timely information from the company. When deadline approached for most newspapers in the Eastern time zone, reporters relied unwisely on a third-hand source, a caller to the church where the families had gathered. The caller was wrong. The nation was duped. This could have been avoided if Sago set up a news media operation to keep reporters informed throughout the crisis.
- Reporters Forgot a Basic Rule. One of the many journalism mottos posted on the walls of the Raleigh, N.C, News & Observer when I worked there during the 1970s and 1980s, was "Get it first, but get it right." A derivation of that rule, which was too crass to post on a wall, was, "If your own mother says it, check it out." The imperative to check the validity and knowledgeability of a source is important at all times, and especially before deadline.
- Pack Journalism Fails. What we need are reporters who break away from the pack and find the truth for themselves. The independent journalist should be accorded some leeway; they might be best to explain a complicated story or a sad outcome.
A total breakdown in crisis communications led to one of the saddest mass newspaper mistakes in decades.
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