National Preparedness Month (NPM) is recognized each September to promote family and community disaster planning now and throughout the year. As our nation continues to respond to COVID-19, there is no better time to be involved this September. The 2020 NPM theme is: “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today.“ For more information: www.ready.gov Week 1: […]
By Elizabeth Weil, writing for ProPublica… What a week. Rough for all Californians. Exhausting for the firefighters on the front lines. Heart-shattering for those who lost homes and loved ones. But a special “Truman Show” kind of hell for the cadre of men and women who’ve not just watched California burn, fire ax in hand, […]
The World Health Organization defines risk communications the exchange of real-time information, advice and opinions between experts and people facing threats to their health, economic or social well-being. The ultimate purpose of risk communication is to enable people at risk to take informed decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones. Risk communication uses many […]
From Dan Levin, writing in The New York Times… On the first day of school in Camden County, Ga., local Facebook groups were already buzzing with rumors that a teacher had tested positive for the coronavirus. The next day, a warning went out to school administrators: Keep teachers quiet. “Staff who test positive are not […]
From the American University School of International Service Disinformation Research Team writing in Homeland Security Today: Although Americans expect to encounter disinformation via social media platforms in the run-up to the 2020 elections, many continue to consume news online primarily via social media. Foreign actors have used social media to increase discord in the United […]
By Tabitha Moses, writing for The Conversation: We see this war reflected in the language that gets used by politicians, policymakers, journalists and healthcare workers. As the “invisible enemy” rolled in, entire economies halted as populations “sheltered in place.” We were told to “hunker down” for the long battle ahead and to “support our troops,” […]
From Bridget Satinover Nichols, Hannah Stolze and Jon Kirchoff writing in the Harvard Business Review: It’s always been true that when companies behave badly, consumers react by spreading the word and sometimes boycotting. But our recent research found that negative news is also bad for business in a new way: Consumers react even when the bad news extends beyond […]
Once again, we turn to Peter Sandman, one of the country’s foremost experts on the subject of risk communications. In a recent interview, Dr. Sandman focused on how he thinks the U.S. public health profession mishandled and miscommunicated COVID-19 over the last few months, suggesting that health officials underreacted and left us unprepared. Then they […]
Nathan Miller, writing in Forbes, nailed it… As the CEO of a strategic communications firm in Los Angeles, I frequently work with lawyers. Whether my client is a high-profile individual in the middle of active litigation, a nonprofit engaged in a public education campaign or a large corporation getting ahead of a story — good […]
Tabitha Moses, a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University, offers an interesting approach to communicating about COVID-19, with lessons for business leaders, too. We see this war reflected in the language that gets used by politicians, policymakers, journalists and healthcare workers. As the “invisible enemy” rolled in, entire economies halted as populations “sheltered in place.” […]