8 ms·

Seems like no one there has read the manual: "Throughout this book, six principles of effective crisis and risk communication are emphasized: 1. Be First: Cri

by mhb 6y ago

Seems like no one there has read the manual: "Throughout this book, six principles of effective crisis and risk communication are emphasized: 1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. For members of the public, the first source of information often becomes the preferred source. 2. Be Right: Accuracy establishes credibility. Information can include what is known, what is not known, and what is being done to fill in the gaps. 3. Be Credible: Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises. 4. Express Empathy: Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words. Addressing what people are feeling, and the challenges they face, builds trust and rapport. 5. Promote Action: Giving people meaningful things to do calms anxiety, helps restore order, and promotes a restored sense of control. 6. Show Respect: Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable. Respectful communication promotes cooperation and rapport."

andrewljohnson 6y ago
Value #1 seems pretty at odds with 2 and 3, and dangerous with #5. I wonder how the CDC reconciles this... surely Be Right is more important than Be First. A spammy news site could claim most of these values in this order.
- pasquinelli 6y ago
  it's really not complicated: tell the public as soon as possible what is known and be honest with them about what isn't.
- j4yav 6y ago
  #1 could be just opening up the communication channels and sharing where you are at with the rest.
- Izkata 6y ago
  No, 2 includes "what is not known, and what is being done to fill in the gaps". Being honest about "we don't have an answer to this yet but are working on it" helps with the others.
  - oalae5niMiel7qu 6y ago
    The CDC had a special way of being dishonest here: They claimed and continue to claim there is zero knowledge available unless there are a dozen studies from the right institutions confirming it. This led them to be months behind on realizing that COVID was airborne.
breck 6y ago
To me it seems like something has fundamentally changed in the world in the past decade. If you are an information worker and want to have credibility, you need to put things on git. Otherwise you lose credibility. It's sort of like the difference between hearsay and the written word. Anything not backed by git nowadays I consider as hearsay.
- elliekelly 6y ago
  "Hearsay" is a bit of a misnomer because it encompasses any statement made by someone else - oral, written, non-verbal, git repo, etc.
  - breck 6y ago
    Yeah, it was rushed writing on my part. Basically there's an OOM difference in the credibility between things published with a backing git repo and those where just the artifacts are published.
rayiner 6y ago
> Seems like no one there has read the manual: You can say that again! > 1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. For members of the public, the first source of information often becomes the preferred source. Fauci saying masks don’t work before he said the opposite. > 2. Be Right: Accuracy establishes credibility. Information can include what is known, what is not known, and what is being done to fill in the gaps. Instead of saying they didn’t have enough information about outdoor transmission, they threw out the 10% number as a random CYA. See above about the first number being sticky. > 3. Be Credible: Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises. Fauci saying masks don’t work, and also the 10% number being thrown out there without caveating that it’s a wild ass guess. > 4. Express Empathy: Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words. Addressing what people are feeling, and the challenges they face, builds trust and rapport. Fauci berating people for being upset that their lives are being shut down by government orders. > 6. Show Respect: Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable. Respectful communication promotes cooperation and rapport. Instead of respect, we got demonization of half the country.
- at-fates-hands 6y ago
  > 1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. An I correct in remembering the CDC taking its talking points from the Chinese officials who had a vested interest in spreading disinformation and falsehoods about where and how the virus started?
  - HonestOp001 6y ago
    That was the WHO. Faucii is technically trying to avoid being found out that he has connections to starting everything when an organization he had his hooks in had operations in the Wuhan lab.
- js2 6y ago
  > Instead of respect, we got demonization of half the country. I don't think this is entirely fair. I'd invite you to at least listen to what local public health officials were dealing with: https://khn.org/news/article/public-health-officials-year-of-threats-menace-santa-cruz-california/ https://khn.org/news/article/public-health-officials-year-of... https://www.thisamericanlife.org/736/the-herd https://www.thisamericanlife.org/736/the-herd A significant and vocal portion of the country thinks its okay to bully and berate officials. Anna Maria Barry-Jester: "People are not willing to be governed," at least not by officials who ask them to make sacrifices for their neighbors. And as a result, the officials, trying to govern us are quitting in droves. Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 250 public health officials working in communities all over the US have left their jobs, many because of threats and political pushback. Nearly one in six Americans now lives in a community that has lost its local health department leader during the pandemic, officials like Mimi and Gail. It's the largest exodus of health officials in US history.
lucas_membrane 6y ago
They left out one possible recommendation: Tell the whole truth. Failure to do that was a big mistake by the powers that were during the 1918 flu unpleasantness. The lesson has been lost.

by mhb 6y ago

andrewljohnson 6y ago

Value #1 seems pretty at odds with 2 and 3, and dangerous with #5. I wonder how the CDC reconciles this... surely Be Right is more important than Be First. A spammy news site could claim most of these values in this order.

pasquinelli 6y ago
it's really not complicated: tell the public as soon as possible what is known and be honest with them about what isn't.
j4yav 6y ago
#1 could be just opening up the communication channels and sharing where you are at with the rest.
Izkata 6y ago
No, 2 includes "what is not known, and what is being done to fill in the gaps". Being honest about "we don't have an answer to this yet but are working on it" helps with the others.
- oalae5niMiel7qu 6y ago
  The CDC had a special way of being dishonest here: They claimed and continue to claim there is zero knowledge available unless there are a dozen studies from the right institutions confirming it. This led them to be months behind on realizing that COVID was airborne.

breck 6y ago

To me it seems like something has fundamentally changed in the world in the past decade. If you are an information worker and want to have credibility, you need to put things on git. Otherwise you lose credibility. It's sort of like the difference between hearsay and the written word. Anything not backed by git nowadays I consider as hearsay.

elliekelly 6y ago
"Hearsay" is a bit of a misnomer because it encompasses any statement made by someone else - oral, written, non-verbal, git repo, etc.
- breck 6y ago
  Yeah, it was rushed writing on my part. Basically there's an OOM difference in the credibility between things published with a backing git repo and those where just the artifacts are published.

rayiner 6y ago

> Seems like no one there has read the manual: You can say that again! > 1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. For members of the public, the first source of information often becomes the preferred source. Fauci saying masks don’t work before he said the opposite. > 2. Be Right: Accuracy establishes credibility. Information can include what is known, what is not known, and what is being done to fill in the gaps. Instead of saying they didn’t have enough information about outdoor transmission, they threw out the 10% number as a random CYA. See above about the first number being sticky. > 3. Be Credible: Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises. Fauci saying masks don’t work, and also the 10% number being thrown out there without caveating that it’s a wild ass guess. > 4. Express Empathy: Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words. Addressing what people are feeling, and the challenges they face, builds trust and rapport. Fauci berating people for being upset that their lives are being shut down by government orders. > 6. Show Respect: Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable. Respectful communication promotes cooperation and rapport. Instead of respect, we got demonization of half the country.

at-fates-hands 6y ago
> 1. Be First: Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is almost always important. An I correct in remembering the CDC taking its talking points from the Chinese officials who had a vested interest in spreading disinformation and falsehoods about where and how the virus started?
- HonestOp001 6y ago
  That was the WHO. Faucii is technically trying to avoid being found out that he has connections to starting everything when an organization he had his hooks in had operations in the Wuhan lab.
js2 6y ago
> Instead of respect, we got demonization of half the country. I don't think this is entirely fair. I'd invite you to at least listen to what local public health officials were dealing with: https://khn.org/news/article/public-health-officials-year-of-threats-menace-santa-cruz-california/ https://khn.org/news/article/public-health-officials-year-of... https://www.thisamericanlife.org/736/the-herd https://www.thisamericanlife.org/736/the-herd A significant and vocal portion of the country thinks its okay to bully and berate officials. Anna Maria Barry-Jester: "People are not willing to be governed," at least not by officials who ask them to make sacrifices for their neighbors. And as a result, the officials, trying to govern us are quitting in droves. Since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 250 public health officials working in communities all over the US have left their jobs, many because of threats and political pushback. Nearly one in six Americans now lives in a community that has lost its local health department leader during the pandemic, officials like Mimi and Gail. It's the largest exodus of health officials in US history.

lucas_membrane 6y ago

They left out one possible recommendation: Tell the whole truth. Failure to do that was a big mistake by the powers that were during the 1918 flu unpleasantness. The lesson has been lost.