By Eric Seidel

Get used to it! There are a lot of broadcast news media outlets, many of them either doing all news, or prepared to break their regular format to go “wall-to-wall” with a major news story. And when a story breaks, they are going to be all over it. You can bemoan that fact all you want, but it won’t change anything. Either adapt or, if and when a crisis hits you, you’ll just make it worse.

So how does an organization deal with the intense pressure for information from the news media in times of crisis?

The most recent example is the sniper case in and around Washington, D. C. Media from around the world, led by the many American networks and, of course, local radio and TV, camp out and demand to be fed information. Their hunger is insatiable. How do you keep feeding this animal while still trying to run your business and do the work you must to bring things under control and back to normal?

One way is to “think” just like the broadcast news media when they are covering a major breaking story.

Undoubtedly, the organization(s) under the news microscope at the time of crisis feel unforgiving pressure to keep giving new information. Well, the media don’t necessarily expect it to always be “new.” Yes, when something new happens, they want to know it. And, they have their representatives working sources to get the lead and advance the story and put their own brand on it.

But, overall, the broadcast media understand something about their audiences that you need to understand, as well. There is constant turnover. Listeners and viewers change. The majority are not glued to their radio and/or TV for extended periods of time. And, those who are probably understand things don’t change minute by minute, especially once the basic information is out.

Empower one or more of your representatives to speak for you. Make them constantly accessible to the media (except when you need to brief them as a team) to “go live” when needed with the radio and TV representatives who are meeting unyielding deadlines. Make sure your people are saying the same thing, are not attempting to embellish or speculate. Even if what they are saying for hours does not change, audiences are changing. For many, what you might think sounds old is, in fact, new information for them.

Assignment desks are screaming at their field reporters for live updates. You see, they also feel like there is an insatiable appetite they need to continue feeding. In their case it’s TIME. Getting their people on the air, providing a variety of faces and/or voices in order to attract and maintain audience, are among the things they must consider as they cover the story.

Thinking like the news media, making their job easier, also gives you an additional level of control. Events have already made you and your organization a focal point of the story. Why wouldn’t you want to control as much of the information as you can by being the primary source of that information. Your credibility will rise, you’ll be taking some of the pressure off your organization, and help bring things back to normal as quickly as possible.