IceStorm 98 Study

D. MEDIA RELATIONS

1. The media play a vital role in getting information out to the public. If more media had been available (TV, radio, and newspapers were down in some places) it would have cut down on the phone calls.

   “The media is key and critical. Mass communication in this kind of situation is key.”

   Dr. Ian Gemmill, Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Health Unit, Kingston

2. Expect a lot of requests for information from the media.
3. Contact the media and give them unlisted numbers.
4. Schedule press conferences around media deadlines.
5. Radio was particularly useful. New announcements can be made any time.
6. Include the media in your emergency plan and consider having the media present at control group meetings.
7. Don’t look at the media as an intrusion, look at them like a partner. The normal reporter – interviewer relationship broke down; there was a sense of everybody being in this together.

   “[I have] nothing but praise for the way journalists and the media handled their end of things – TV, radio, and newspapers”.

   Greg Taylor, Emergency Measures Ontario

8. “The media wanted to be pro-active and help people – to be part of the solution. The media should have been given a chance [to do the right thing].”

   Lynn Haddrall, Kingston Whig Standard- Newspaper

9. Monitor media reports so corrections can be made right away.
10. Some municipalities felt neglected by CBC radio coverage because they concentrated on the larger centers. When CBC reported that water needed to be boiled in parts of Montreal, other centers (like Kingston) were flooded with calls and a lot of confusion was created.
11. Problems with the media occurred mostly at shelters, when reporters wanted to conduct interviews and take pictures. Mike Stoneman of the Red Cross explained that shelters should be treated as people’s homes and the media has no more right to be there than in someone’s bedroom.

    Tilly Nelson, Vice-Principal of LCVI had the following reaction:

    “Mrs. Nelson had contact with the media and, in fact, put the media out at one point. The media went in and wanted to go through the shelter and even said things like 'this is our crisis, you have to let us in’ but there is a Board policy that states that the school will not allow the media to talk to a student without the student's consent. She told them they could go to the cafeteria and speak with adults but they could not speak with students under 18. And they said, 'Well, you're not operating the school right now and it's our storm and we can do whatever we want.' This was one of the local newspapers. They also wanted to go in with cameras to one of the sleeping areas and she said no, that these people are all disadvantaged, they've all been out of their homes for two or three days [it took a couple of days for the press to get there]. They're tired, they're under stress. There's no way that there's consent or even implied consent. When somebody comes in at 7:30 in the morning and wants to take pictures of people sleeping in this gym, they're not going in that gym. They're not taking a picture of one person in that gym sleeping."

12. Some media outlets used volunteers to gather information from the rural areas.
13. Use a well-known authority figure to do interviews with the media (i.e., mayor, police chief) not someone unknown to the public.