Newsroom Planning For Crisis CoverageDoes
your newsroom have a disaster plan? Does everyone in your station know
where to find it, as well as what it says? Have you practiced the plan?
If you can't answer yes to all of these questions, it's time to get to
work. RTNDF offers these suggestions to help stations prepare for the
worst.
Develop/update a plan. A disaster plan tells who does what
and when. It should be in writing, stored in the computer system and
kept in hard copy, both at the station and off-site. Every department
head should have a hard copy at work and at home.
Learn as you plan. Meet with local experts who can help
you imagine what could happen in your area. Get together with emergency
managers, public health officials and others in your area to learn more
about their plans for dealing with emergencies.
Anticipate disruptions.
How will you stay on the air if your transmitter is affected? Do you
have an alternate site from which to broadcast? Look for new places to
put your microwave truck in case the usual spots are inaccessible. What
will you do for emergency power? Will that source power your computers,
or should you have a backup plan for scripts? Some newsrooms keep old
manual typewriters stashed away, just in case.
Organize contact information.
Make sure your assignment desk has up-to-date contact information for
your entire staff, both on computer and hard-copy, on and off-site.
Ditto for outside contacts, from your station group to local emergency
responders, including after-hours numbers. Consider creating a
laminated card with key names and numbers for all staff members to keep
with them.
Review your routines. When and where do you refuel your
news vehicles? When are batteries put on charge? Make it a station-wide
habit to refuel and check gear at the end of each day. Make sure your
staff knows how to switch incoming phone calls and two-way audio to
air, if necessary. Consider letting photographers take gear home. In a
disaster, they might not be able to get back to the station.
Stock up. During a disaster, employees are likely to spend
long hours at the station. Do you have cots and blankets? Food and
water? Foul weather gear, flashlights and batteries? What about first
aid kits? Cash? Decide who will check the inventory and how frequently.
Spell out the plan. Detail how station personnel will be
notified and what is expected of them. All of them, not just those in
the newsroom. Use an all-page system to get in touch with those on
pagers. Give everyone a special phone number to call in case they can't
be paged, or create a phone tree to get the word out. Give everyone an
assignment and a place to report in the event of a disaster. Create
on-call schedules to cover your newsroom at all times. Have a back-up
plan for renting extra equipment, putting people up in hotels, and
bringing in personnel from other stations in your group, network or
affiliates. You are likely to need help.
Prepare personnel. Assign reporters according to expertise
and coverage areas, like medical, consumer, and public safety. Include
sales and traffic department employees in your planning--they can
answer phones, plan meals, and so on.
Back up. Back up your computer records on a regular basis,
and store copies off-site. If your facility is destroyed, these back-up
records could keep you going, and keep your station from losing
millions of dollars.
Practice the plan. Review the plan every six months or so,
and update it as needed. Discuss it at meetings, to be sure it's fresh
in people's minds, and that new staffers are aware of what it entails.
Then practice it on a regular, unannounced basis to find out what works
and what needs work.
Look beyond the plan. Your staff may see a lot of death
and destruction. Following an emergency, bring in crisis counselors, or
offer outside counseling. Encourage people to talk about what they've
been through. Think about how the newsroom will get back to normal when
it's all over.
Other RTNDF resources:
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