Media handling
An emergency plan should include arrangements for dealing with media
interest. Members of the school community may feel pressured into giving
interviews or making statements to the press, and it is important to
have procedures set down in the school's emergency plan and to stick
to them.
These might include, for example:
- Identifying particular staff or governors to deal with the media,
and giving them training in media handling if possible
- Planning to use a particular phone number for media inquiries,
and letting the local press know in advance what this will be (remember,
local radio in particular can help keep the public informed about
what is happening and you may want to discuss this with your local
station when you are formulating your emergency plan)
Depending on the nature of an incident, the task of coping with media
pressures may fall to the police. However the police press officer will
need to liaise closely with school staff to ensure briefing is accurate
and arrange interviews when appropriate. You may like to contact your
local police press office to discuss your plans.
In the event of a major incident the police will take some actions
immediately:
- Control access to the site to allow rescue services and investigators
to carry out their work unhindered
- Establish a media liaison point - this is a designated point at
the disaster scene, preferably outside the outer cordon, for the reception
of media personnel. It may be little more than a rendezvous point
to start with, but can quickly grow into a major media facility as
national and international reporters turn up with crews and trucks
(depending on the scale of the incident)
- Dispatch a media liaison officer - the swift attendance at the
scene of a media contact (likely to be from the police) should ease
the pressure from the media. Failure to arrange this will prompt media
representatives to approach anybody available, which could lend credibility
to inaccurate sources
- Access assistance from the Government
News Network - they can supply experienced press-officers at any
time (at no cost for the first 24 hours) who will arrive with their
own communications facilities and technical-support equipment
