DON’T FORGET YOUR LAWYER
views, identify 1) who the stakeholder groups are, and 2) what each group like- ly wants to know. That’s because the re- porter’s job is to ask you the questions that stakeholders would ask if they had access to you. In essence, the reporter is a conduit between the stakeholder groups and the organization. So if we can figure out what the various interested stakehold- ers want to know, we can do a reason- able job of anticipating what a reporter will ask. Make yourself comfortable. Some of those questions are likely to be uncom- fortable. But if you can anticipate them, you can generally script your answers in ways with which you are comfortable— and that can make all the difference. And remember: gaining a full under- standing of major events usually takes time. You can often defer even uncom- fortable questions by saying, “That’s something we don’t know yet, and may not for a while.”
poration, permitting, etc. That attorney can most likely refer you to a colleague with whom you can discuss communi- cations strategies. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with several attorneys with knowledge of the active outdoors space who understand the communications challenges that come with major incidents. By the way: many general liability policies in the active outdoors space include first-dollar coverage for com - munications support in the immediate aftermath of an event. Check with your broker to see if yours does; it can mean the difference between writing a check to a communications consultant or hav- ing it paid for. And it’s also a good idea to have a solid emergency communica- tions plan in place, including spokesper- son training. With that said, however, you can tell re- porters the truth after a major event— without making your situation worse— by using a few simple tools: question anticipation, answer preparation, and Cans and Can’ts.
The last person you want present during a media encounter is your attor- ney. The reporter will instantly suss out who that individual is, and that won’t make the interview go more smoothly. Still, I recommend finding legal counsel before anything happens, in order to help map out your communications strategies in advance. If you can get their agreement to review your ma- terials prior to talking with reporters, so much the better. But that may not always be possible, so I recommend getting their agreement in principle on strategies, rather than individual tactics. Should you have an incident with a high likelihood of litigation, your insurance company will most likely assign a de- fense attorney to you, and you may not know who that is until days, even weeks, after the incident. So they may not be in a position to help you coming out of the gate. But you probably have an ongoing relationship with an attorney who helps you with other matters—such as incor-
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