dealing with the media & social media in emergencies

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Caribbean Risk Communication Training

Workshop

Roger D Ramcharitar Director, Government Communication

Ministry of Trade, Industry, Investment & Communication Republic of Trinidad & Tobago

Dealing with the Media & Social Media in Emergencies

The Crane Resort

Barbados

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SALUTATIONS [slide 1]

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INTRODUCTION

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad &

Tobago, I am delighted to congratulate and thank the Pan

American Health Organisation and the World Health

Organisation for partnering and jointly taking leadership in

bringing this conference together.

It is a signal that the Caribbean region is not only ready to take

responsibility for the risks we face, but is also capable of taking

action when the times demand. And today, the times demand it!

At present, countries of the Caribbean are facing risks brought on

by influenza-like illnesses; dengue haemorrhagic fever,

Chikungunya; and the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

In addition to ongoing aggressive public information strategies for

awareness, symptom information, treatment protocols and

prevention strategies, Trinidad & Tobago has mounted a

comprehensive response to Ebola prevention.

The Cabinet-appointed National Ebola Prevention,

Information and Response Team was established by Prime

Minister the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, on 09 October

2014. The team is led by the Vice Chief of Defence Staff,

Brigadier General Anthony Phillips-Spencer.

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This team includes all major stakeholders in health, business,

State agencies, and international partner agencies.

Indeed, PAHO and the WHO are active members of this team as

well, as is my colleague from my country’s coordinating agency,

the National Operations Centre, Esther Jones.

As a member of this team, part of my responsibility is to support

and advise on measures for “Dealing with the Media & Social

Media in Emergencies”, which is also the focus of this

presentation.

I am therefore delighted to also be a representative of this high-

level team in delivering the views which will follow.

THE SCENARIO [slide 2]

The present scenario is that the Caribbean is faced with a number

of stubborn and serious infectious diseases.

Nation States, with the help, support and technical contribution of

global organisations such as PAHO and the WHO have attained

varying levels of preparedness.

Work is ongoing at both the State Sector and Private Sector

levels to ensure that each country is not only prepared to fight

the spread of infectious diseases, but is also ready to respond

and as far as possible, prevent.

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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES [slide 3]

Such initiatives are faced with challenges, which substantially

increase in times of emergency.

Among the challenges faced when emergencies strike, include:

(i) A lack of coordination when theoretical plans are put

into action;

(ii) A lack of physical, human and financial resources to

successfully drive delivery;

(iii) Relatively low levels of technology and internet

penetration which restricts the different levels of

contact we maintain;

(iv) The all-pervading problem of high demand, but not so

high supply of medical staff and experts;

(v) The absence of information filters – the world has no

lack of information available, but not all information is

based on fact;

(vi) The manner in which choice and personal preferences

have inspired the growth of entertainment, but not

necessarily information.

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To fully describe the impact of these challenges, I want to share

with you some of the main measures and statistics for the world

and our region.

If we turn to the ‘We Are Social’ online network, we see their

global digital statistics telling us:

The world population is 7.1 Billion people;

3.5 Billion are mobile users;

2.9 Billion are internet users, and

1.9 Billion are social media users.

The “We Are Social” global digital statistics looked deeper, at

the Americas which:

Accounts for 966 million people;

605 million of which are internet users;

An even 605 million are mobile users, and

462 million use social media

But then they looked strictly to the Caribbean, and their 2014

statistics showed:

There are a total of 41.8 million people;

Of which 15.4 million are internet users;

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8.5 million are social media users, with

7 million active mobile subscriptions.

But for the sake of clarity, it is important to take a look at some

of the country specific data.

COUNTRY POPULATION INTERNET USERS

MOBILE SUBSCRIPTIONS

SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

Guyana 736,000 295,000 638,000 176,000 Haiti 9.9 million 1.2 million 6.1 million 740,000

T&T 1.2 million 857,000 1.7 million 560,000

Jamaica 2.9 million 1.6 million 3.5 million 800,000

What these statistics tell us is that:

In 7.1 Billion people;

We are 41.8 million or 0.5% of the world population;

15.4 million or 0.2% of us use the internet, and

And 8.5 million of us, or 0.1% use social media.

I want to contextualise this further so I will turn to another

source. SiliconCaribe.com is said to be the first, longest running

and Most Influential Caribbean Technology News Site.

SiliconCaribe ranked the top Caribbean social websites and found

in the top five:

(i) Caribbeanmassive.com – a social network;

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(ii) Likeachampion360.com – a sports fan network;

(iii) Westindiantube.com – a video sharing social network;

(iv) Kingstonpo.com – a social network for Dancehall and

Reggae;

(v) Teencaribbean.com – A social network for Caribbean

teenagers

Let’s now bring the conventional media into context. I’m sure

some of you would be familiar with ING.com which is a global

financial institution.

ING.com in 2014 commissioned research

(http://www.ing.com/Newsroom/All-news/NW/2014-Study-impact-of-Social-Media-

on-News-more-crowdchecking-less-factchecking.htm) which stated:

“Dialogue on social media is gaining importance. Journalists

widely use social media posts despite having doubts about their

reliability. At the same time PR professionals believe that news is

becoming less reliable as journalists do less fact-checking.”

The topline findings of the survey can be summarised as this:

(i) One-third of journalists consider social media posts to

be unreliable sources, but half of journalists admitted

social media were their main source of information;

http://www.ing.com/Newsroom/All-news/NW/2014-Study-impact-of-Social-Media-on-News-more-crowdchecking-less-factchecking.htm

http://www.ing.com/Newsroom/All-news/NW/2014-Study-impact-of-Social-Media-on-News-more-crowdchecking-less-factchecking.htm

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(ii) Half of journalists consider consumer opinion as more

reliable than a release by an organisation. Social media

gives a sense of public opinion, but when writing

articles, they do not always check whether public

opinion is based on facts;

(iii) Less focus on fact-checking; and the motto has become

- ‘publish first, correct if necessary’. About 20% of

journalists always check their facts before publishing;

almost half of journalists said they published most of

their stories as quickly as possible to correct later if

necessary, and PR professionals said that since the

arrival of social media, journalists are getting in contact

less frequently to check facts, and

(iv) About 60% of Journalists said they feel less bound by

journalistic rules on social media than with traditional

media such as a newspaper article.

Even if we were to adapt and combine these findings to the

character and personality of the Caribbean person, we find that

our challenges may be quite complex.

Active social media users in the Caribbean accounts for 0.1% of

the world population which is what some may even be tempted to

call negligible.

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And within that 0.1%, we have seen that the social media choices

of people of the region show a preference for entertainment,

sports and networking.

But the conclusion drawn from this can NOT be that social media

has no influence on the majority of the Caribbean in the context

of news.

By virtue of the fact that Journalists in the conventional media

are also included in that small percentage, it means there is a

very narrow window through which the news and information

influence can be magnified tremendously.

That window opens by Journalists using social media as one of

the influencers in the nature of the stories they write for print

publication and electronic broadcast.

This is the single largest opportunity that we are presented with!

GOALS AND STRATEGIES [slide 4]

With the insight I mentioned earlier into penetration and user

choices for social media, our information goals and strategies

actually become much less complex.

In times of emergency, where infectious diseases threaten the

people of the Caribbean, it is not enough to say that conventional

crisis communication protocols have been activated and we have

done our best to inform people.

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Strategies that are built based on that loop that exists, that we

can tap into, can ensure that we maximise the reach of

information, health warnings, service information and public

education.

TARGET AUDIENCES [slide 5]

Global organisations such as PAHO and the WHO will therefore be

faced with shifts in the publics and audiences they attempt to

reach with information.

In fact, audiences now are more structured and layered than at

any other time in modern history.

In mounting a communication strategy that requires the support

and active participation of the conventional and social media,

audiences will now include:

(i) Children – with further subdivisions including children

at pre-school, at primary and secondary school, out of

school but not employed, in foster care, in medical

institutions and in high risk communities;

(ii) Working professionals – with further sub-divisions

including those employed in public sector organisations,

those employed in the private sector, those with access

to professional associations, those who work in

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education and therefore would have a lead-role in the

children audience;

(iii) Semi-skilled, out of office workers – with further sub-

divisions including taxi-drivers, agriculture and farm

workers, vendors, construction workers…all of whom

have a direct interplay with working professionals and

children on a daily basis;

(iv) And of course, the media – with further sub-divisions

such as New Media Journalists, Columnists, Sub-

Editors, Writers and Photographers…again, all of whom

have a direct link to all other categories.

PARTNERS [slide 6]

Partnership therefore is essential and I would even add that

partnership is the critical element in ensuring that information

continues to flow across all layers and all sections of what makes

up a national community.

This means that partnership is made much more robust when

times of emergency instil a sense of responsibility among

partners.

Sharing information on infectious diseases that threaten the real

lives of men, women and children is no favour to anyone; it is a

responsibility that we all have to each other as human beings.

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And what emerges as the most important partner in creating

linkages, setting off the flow of information, and ensuring the

widest possible reach, is the media.

The media informs the public through traditional as well as newly-

conventional research methods, if at all research is done.

Speaking strictly in the context of health emergencies, sources of

information become the bulletins through websites such as those

of PAHO and the WHO.

Sources of public opinion and education include conventional

feedback, direct interview contact and social media posts and

comments.

This means that at any given time, the entire Caribbean can be

firmly networked together by linking all the partners and

instigators in information and public education.

THE TOOLS AND THE CHANNELS [slide 7]

The tools and channels are therefore clear – digital media and

social media do not rely solely on direct users to influence entire

communities.

When channels are established through partnerships with the

media, through real time press-briefings, email updates, RSS

feeds and social media updates, and we are doing so with a clear

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intention to expand our channels, pool a wealth of knowledge and

focus our messaging on audiences, we are in effect doing better.

THE MESSAGES [slide 8]

I say ‘focus our messaging’ because by the time we have

established partnerships, opened up information channels and

mapped the way we will distribute, re-distribute, share and push

on vital information, we must also be clear on what we are

saying, to whom!

Just as the media represents our biggest partner, the right

message represents the biggest feature of successful information

campaigns.

A simple example – the warnings issued to an audience of

journalists and professionals based in private and public sector

organisations will be different to those aimed at satisfying an

audience of children at school, or an audience of taxi-drivers who

are depending heavily on radio broadcasts of news and public

announcements.

What is therefore essential is that the structuring of distribution

channels and the nature of messaging be taken as equally

important at the conceptual stage.

The mission becomes the right message and that mission must be

thorough. Not complex…but thorough.

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Messaging development requires that:

We are clear on who the main audience is;

What do we need them to know;

What do they already know;

What are the biggest influencers in whether they listen or

ignore;

How do we measure the impact of message delivery

And because of the nature of the choices made by people in using

social media, we must also take careful note of the number of

younger persons who we will be trying to reach.

Age groups are generally clustered by saying 18 to 35, or some

variation close to that. But I do not think that’s enough.

The interests of an 18 year old, who is in University, will vary

starkly to the interests of a 30-year old, who is arriving at the

middle of his or her career, and probably thinking of starting a

family and buying a house.

These factors are important to what our message is, and how it is

delivered.

Of equal importance, in designing messaging strategies, is the

fact that a message must not be deemed delivered until it has

gained sufficient repetition.

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An expert colleague who has worked in countries across the world

in providing strategic communication support and advice, Mark

Spiro of Crestview Strategies, once told me in a discussion –

“just because you’re tired of saying it, don’t think the majority of

people have heard it.”

In fact, Mr Spiro went further to point me to the Coca Cola

standard in messaging, which was developed after intense market

research – a message must be repeated at least 21 times before

it can be deemed to have been fully delivered.

Further, some of you may be familiar with the FTI Journal on

critical thinking. (http://ftijournal.com/article/social-vs-traditional-

media).

In a 2013 article, the FTI Managing Director, Strategic

Communications, Brent McGoldrick, suggested an approach which

has not only worked well in the course of my work, but has also

gained great acceptance among some of the top communication

practitioners in the world.

In what he called the ‘Four Stage Message Cycle’ he says

maximum public opinion shifts occur when structured in this

manner:

ORIGINATION - Using a “shock the system” message to

stimulate dialogue on an issue that could be ignored, using

advertising, speeches and press conferences;

http://ftijournal.com/article/social-vs-traditional-media

http://ftijournal.com/article/social-vs-traditional-media

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DISPERSAL - Dissemination of the message through social

media forums;

AMPLIFICATION – The time will come when a message has

sufficiently established itself on social media, and attracts the

attention of mainstream media, who amplify it by bringing it into

print and broadcast;

REINFORCEMENT – When the message begins the mainstream

media cycle, further campaigns through advertising and speeches

serve to reinforce it.

EVALUATION OF IMPACT/LESSONS LEARNT [slide 9]

In wrapping up these comments, and focusing our minds to

impact and lessons learnt, we arrive at a point of clarity for us in

the Caribbean, on how we manage the emergencies brought on

by infectious diseases, through the media and social media.

The mainstream media and Journalists become the most

important partners between source and destination.

Social and digital media must not be underestimated by virtue of

penetration and usage statistics.

Audiences must be clearly established and the right messaging

must be delivered by taking development through a number of

critical stages.

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Dissemination requires not just one launch into the media cycle,

but also strategies to ensure that information is established,

carried, discussed, multiplied and repeated.

And the impact must be measured if we are to be sure that we

have succeeded in informing our publics.

So in discussing how we ‘deal with the media and social media in

emergencies’, this is how we do it.

Before I close, however, there is one point I want to emphasise

and as a professional in communications, I have a personal

interest in ensuring that this point is questioned and considered

by colleagues.

I make my point with these questions:

Do we engage in information strategies with a pre-conceived

notion that merely engaging a strategy means success?

How do we establish clear measures for the progress and

success of our campaign?

And most of all – how do we decide, and are we willing to

accept, that we might have failed in our mission?

To me, this is the biggest question – how do we know if we fail? I

want to put forward to this conference that we must be bold

enough to establish the benchmarks that will answer that

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question, and be ready to adapt our strategies if failure becomes

likely.

The reason why is very simple. This is not the first time we’re

being challenged by infectious diseases.

The world has in fact faced similar emergencies in the past and

on each occasion, success was mounted on a platform of quelling

that particular disease, not necessarily quelling infectious

diseases overall, through clear protocols and conventions.

You will all remember the severe acute respiratory syndrome

(SARS) which was an unknown in 2002, but by 2006 had struck

such fear in parts of the world that the fear itself became our

biggest challenge.

Dr Dessmon YH Tai’s commentary in 2006 “SARS: How to

Manage Future Outbreaks?” may have given us a glimpse at

something that we overlooked. Based on the experience and the

impact of SARS, Dr Tai spoke of managing future outbreaks, not

stopping them altogether.

The SARS pandemic affected 8096 patients in 29 countries over a

short period, from 16 November 2002 to 5 July 2003. Globally,

HCWs accounted for about 21% of patients.

Dr Tai concluded: “In any infectious disease outbreak, the chain

of transmission must be broken to bring the epidemic under

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control. Otherwise, the expansion of medical facilities can never

keep up with the escalating demands. It is important for

everyone to practise public health consciousness such as hand

and respiratory hygiene, including cough etiquette.”

What I am therefore saying is that as we commit to being bold

enough to ask ourselves “have we failed” we must also look back

to the strategies we engaged before, find the shortcomings and

ensure that every mistake becomes a lesson learnt.

In order to achieve that, and to ensure that we move from

managing outbreaks when they occur, to quelling outbreaks

before they surface, conferences such as these must become a

regular feature of our interaction.

We may have challenges existing right now that we have not yet

recognised. The only way to fight those challenges is to break

them before they confront us.

And this conference could become the trigger for that very

important shift…[slide 10]

Food for thought, I thank you all.