Crisis Communication Plan

for the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service

(adapted from Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service)

Purpose Assumptions

This plan outlines procedures for collecting and During a crisis, much of what the public learns
conveying information to the public during or im- about the event is through news media. Negative
mediately following an emergency or crisis. How news coverage can potentially damage an organiza-
communication is handled in the first few hours and tion’s reputa­tion; however, a crisis also offers an
days during a crisis is critically important in terms opportunity to dem­onstrate excellence in response
of maintaining credibility and confidence with the and accountability and to communicate desired
public. messages.

Crisis Crisis Communication Team

A crisis is defined as a significant event—natural, At the onset of a crisis, the State Extension Director
ac­cidental or intended—that prompts significant, will appoint a Crisis Communication Team (CCT)
often sustained, news coverage and public scrutiny that includes at least one member from Communi-
and potentially could cause harm to Cooperative cation Services, one from Extension Information
Extension’s image or reputation—or both. A crisis Technology and one from the county or department
could be precipitated by an emergency (see below) experiencing the crisis. The CCT will evaluate the
or some other event of a catastrophic or controver- crisis and, if appropriate, immediately activate a cri-
sial nature. Examples of the latter are civil distur- sis Web page and crisis hotline for media inquiries.
bances, political controversies or employee miscon- All media inquiries will receive a response and be
duct, and potential partners may include: emergency logged.
management team, health department, commodity
or grower groups, schools, research stations or oth-
ers involved in dealing with the emergency locally. _________________________________________
(CommServ member)
Emergency
_________________________________________
An emergency is defined as fire, explosion, tor­nado, (Extension IT member)
criminal act resulting in injury or severe property
dam­age, or other events where police, fire, emer- _________________________________________
gency medical, animal health or homeland security (County/Dept. representative)
personnel are involved. When an emergency occurs, _________________________________________
Extension personnel are urged to contact 911 and
ensure the safety of anyone who has been harmed.
Note: An emergency could, but will not always, _________________________________________
lead to crisis.

Controversial Issue _________________________________________

A controversial issue is an issue on which people

hold conflicting views. Often, Cooperative Exten- _________________________________________
sion professionals in counties and on campus are
called on by news media to comment on such is-
sues, and they are also called upon to comment on
crises in other states and locations. In these cases,
the Issues Management Plan (and not this Crisis
Communication plan) applies.
Crisis Prevention Web site
The crisis Web site will be prepared generically in
Program Leaders, Department Heads, Department Exten- advance of any crisis and will be activated by the CCT
sion Leaders, District Extension Directors and County in consulta­tion with the Director’s office. Extension
Extension Directors will maintain regular contact with the Information Technology will coordinate with the CCT
Director and also with Communication Services to advise to produce content and main­tain the Web site in a timely
them of developing issues within Cooperative Extension manner.
that potentially could escalate and lead to a crisis. The
Director or designee will determine when it is appropriate Logging media inquiries
to notify the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life An existing phone number for Cooperative Extension
Sciences or higher level university officials. Communi- will be designated for incoming media calls. A second-
cation Services will determine when it is appropriate to ary number may also be established for incom­ing calls
notify University News Services. from the public. All calls will be responded to and will be
logged with name of caller, caller’s organiza­tion or busi-
Maintain Emergency Contacts ness, date and time of call, nature of request (questions,
request for interview, etc.). The date, time and nature of
The crisis communications plan for county centers and Extension’s response also will be logged (Note: log sheets
departments should be kept in a notebook where employ- provided).
ees can access it if the need arises. A staff member in each
unit should be responsible for updating employees’ per- Internal Communications
sonal contact information annually and including it in the
notebook. In addition, someone should be responsible for The Crisis Communication Team (CCT) will regularly
compiling office and after-hours contact information for brief the Director and other appropriate administrators
potential local partners in the event of a crisis. Someone at during the crisis. To reduce rumors, negative specula-
the state level will provide counties with personal contact tions and unwarranted concerns, the CCT will place a
information for key state administrators and update the high priority on communicating to internal audiences. In
information annually. Personal contact information should consul­tation with the Director, decisions will be made on
be considered privileged information and used only in the how best to communicate information about the crisis to
event of a crisis (Note: Contact sheet provided). college employees on campus and in other Extension of-
fices through­out the state.
Public Comments Policy
Procedures Following the Crisis
Part of this plan’s purpose is to ensure that the appropri-
ate person or persons represent and speak on behalf of the Communication Services will document news coverage
Cooperative Extension Service during a crisis. Extension surrounding the crisis, with help from field faculty when
employees are discouraged from speaking to the media the crisis takes place away from Raleigh. When the crisis
during a crisis without clearing it with the Director or the is over, documentation will be given to the CCT in order
Head of Communication Services. to evaluate the overall success of the crisis management
ef­fort. The CCT will then prepare and submit a crisis
Expansion of Concepts evaluation report to the Director.

Temporary Spokesperson
The temporary spokesperson, typically an Extension
administrator, makes initial comments to the news media.
This person may or may not be desig­nated the permanent
spokesperson.

Permanent Spokesperson
The permanent spokesperson will be approved by the
Director or designee in consultation with Communication
Services. This person ideally will have good communica-
tion skills, high familiarity with facts related to the crisis,
strong professional credentials and the ability to remain
calm under pressure.
Crisis Response 10. In consultation with the Director or designee and
Communication Services officials, the CCT may con-
1. Employee first encoun­tering an emergency should sider organiz­ing a news conference within 24 hours of
immediately call 911 and, if safe and reasonable, pro- the start of the crisis and offer follow-up briefings, as
vide comfort to the injured but not move them. On needed.
campus, University Police should be notified immedi-
ately.

2. Employee encountering an event should contact a

supervisor immediately. Calling should not stop until
a supervisor is successfully reached. After-hours
numbers for key county Extension staff and depart-
mental employees and for key state administrators
will be included in the crisis communication plan and
updated annually. This contact information also will
be shared with important county partners.

3. Employee should also contact a Com­munication

Services specialist. Calling should continue until a
CommServ person is reached. Contact information is
included in this plan.

4. Employee is asked to refer news media questions to

Extension administration or communications officials.

5. Contacted supervisor should immediately call the Di-

rector of Cooperative Extension or a Program Leader
if the Director not avail­able.

6. For non-emergency events (disturbances, misconduct,

contro­versies), supervisors should notify the Director
or Program Leader promptly.

7. Director or Program Leader will notify the Dean,

University Chancellor or Provost or other appro­priate
university official. At this time the situa­tion will be
evaluated to determine if a crisis response is warrant-
ed. If warranted, the Director will designate a tempo­
rary spokesperson. (Note: Permanent spokesper­son
will be designated by the Director in consultation
with Communication Services).

8. If a crisis response is warranted, the Director will

immediately appoint a Crisis Communication Team
(CCT) including at least one member from Commu-
nication Services, one from Extension Information
Technology and one from the county or department
experiencing the crisis.

9. Crisis Communica­tion Team (CCT) will evaluate

crisis and, if ap­propriate, immediately activate a crisis
Web page and crisis hotline for media inquiries. All
media inquiries will receive a response and be logged.
 Crisis Plan Flow Chart

Crisis occurs. Appropriate authorities contacted.

Employee notifies appropriate supervisor: County Extension Director and

District Extension Director, Department Head or Department Extension Leader,
as well as Communication Services. During work or after hours, continue calling
until appropriate officials are reached. Refer news media questions to Extension
administration or communications professionals.

CED or DED, Dept. Head or DEL notifies the State Extension Director. In The Director will also
consultation with the head of Communication Services, the Director will determine when it is
determine if a crisis response is warranted. If so, the Director will appoint the necessary to inform the
Crisis Communication Team and name first a temporary spokesperson, then a Dean, Chancellor or other
permanent spokesperson to field media calls for this crisis. university officials.

The Crisis Communication Team will include a member from

Communication Services, Extension Information Technology and the
county or department facing the crisis, in addition to others as needed.

Duties of the Crisis Communication Team are these:

a. Work with EIT to create and update a crisis Web site, if required.
b. Establish a media hotline, if required. Respond to and log media calls.
c. Organize a news conference within 24 hours, if required, as well as follow-
up briefings.
d. Implement an appropriate internal communications plan to inform
Cooperative Extension employees of the circumstances and response.
e. When crisis has ended, draft a report to the Director that will include the
media call log and other team responses.