Crisis Communications: The Definitive Guide to Managing the Message

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External Crisis Communications

Before you start communicating with the outside world, it is important to know whether you are immersed in an oppositional or a nonoppositional crisis. I touched on this earlier, but it is important to reinforce the critical nature of this element.

At its root level, the difference has to do with whether your company is responsible for the crisis, or whether someone else is and your company is merely suffering from the fallout. Knowing and understanding this distinction drives your entire crisis communications strategy. If you are in the midst of a major acute crisis—lives have been lost, the environment has been damaged, a threat still looms, or something similar—the world is either with you or against you. ...