How to Contact Media During a Crisis

In times of family crisis, the last thing you need are members of the media knocking on your door, right? Even when events seem out of your control, you can decide how the media will deal with you and your family. Here are some tips for what to do when the cameras are on you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Work with the media. If media attention will help you find a missing child or locate the perpetrator of a crime, you may need to contact them. "No comment" leads people to believe that you are hiding something and may intensify the search for information about your family crisis.
2. Protect your family. You can keep your children from being interviewed or photographed for a news story. You can also control when and how long the interviews will last, so you can at least try to create a sense of normalcy in your home while the crisis is occurring.
3. Don't allow yourself to be victimized by the media. You have the control. You can decline an interview even if you have previously said yes, or even request a different reporter.
4. Provide as much information as possible to help with your case. A media package with pertinent information as well as photos can help your story stay at the top of the news.
5. Select a family spokesperson if you feel dealing with the media will cause you too much added anxiety. Stand next to the representative for interviews or press conferences so the public can at least see you.
6. Be honest and forthcoming with reporters, but know when to clamp the lid on intrusive questions. If a question goes "too far" in your estimation, you don't have to answer it. Your family's privacy is important.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't allow the media to have unlimited access to all areas of your home. You can decide on a place in your home where interviews will be conducted.
• Never go off the record with a reporter. Remember: They're primarily after a good story. Your off-the-record comments may help them to pursue an entirely different and unwanted angle of the story.