Introduction
A lot of small newsrooms don’t have emergency plans because they think it’s out of their scope. You don’t have to have everything solved from the beginning, you can plan little by little, step by step.
Building an emergency plan for a newsroom will have its own peculiarities but a lot of planning will be like planning for any business. And a business continuity plan is much like any other plan you have already done for tons of planned coverages. So, think about your emergency plan as a formal project management process.
Let’s start with some basic questions. We are experts when asking the Five W. We can apply them when designing our plans.
- What are my critical assets or functions?
For a TV station like *** (hurricane Ian) it might be their studio. For a radio station, their telephones.
- What are the risks to those assets?
- How can I minimize the damage if it’s unavoidable?
- What does the team have to do when this happens?
- Who are your stakeholders?
- What are the risks to those assets?
Readers, subscribers, newsroom, clients, vendors, Board of directors, investors, ***. For each stakeholder, identify their needs and goals.
- When
- Why
- Where
- Who will execute the plan?
- Who may I call during an emergency?
- What to do
- How are you going to address each challenge?
- How long the emergency status will last?
It might sound silly, but remember numbering the pages of your emergency plan.
Risks
When thinking about the different risks your newsroom and staff might face, have in mind:
Predictability: Can the risk be forecasted like in the case of a hurricane?
Likelihood: How likely is the risk to happen? Use a scale from 0 to 10 to determine the likelihood of a risk happening.
Warnings: What are the alerts that you will get?
Location: Time of the day, day of week.
Impact: How bad it can be?
Magnitude: You can define layers of impact.
- Layer 1: Affects everyone, customers, suppliers, newsroom, employees, the whole city.
- Layer 2: The newsroom or facilities, including power, internet, telephones, air conditioner (hot/cold), water.
Do you know the frequency, timing and length of possible outages? Do you have telephone landlines and telephone books?
They usually keep working in the aftermath of hurricanes and storms. Check your telephone service architecture.
Heavy snowfall weighing on the roof. Water pipe breakage. Locate your single points of failure.
- Layer 3: Systems used by the newsroom: software, CMS, servers (cloud services in extreme cases). Make a list of all the software and data systems used in your newsroom. Think about graphics, photo, video, audio, scanners, archive, etc. Think of vital records. What’s the likelihood of losing access to them?
Ask your employees what’s vital for them. You might be surprised.
- Layer 4: Specific departments, including Distribution, Printing, Digital, etc.
- Layer 5: Employees
Lost productivity: Multiply the number of employees by their hour-loaded cost by the number of hours of downtime. Make sure you are including the hours of employees that assist in the recovery process. For example, if a photographer is helping reorganize the photo studio after it was impacted by flooding. Other costs to be considered include overtime and travel expenses.
Lost revenue: It’s a little bit more complicated because it depends on your business model: donations? ads? subscriptions? But you need to estimate it to estimate the impact.
You can ask your team to help answer these questions and build the risk analysis based on collective company knowledge.
Critical newsroom functions
When a natural disaster hits your newsroom or the area you serve, you will have to shut down part of your operations to focus on the aftermath. You won’t be able to keep functioning “normally.” You will have to concentrate your efforts. Every newsroom have essential sections during a natural disasters. Identify them and think of the sections you will have to shut down first. How are you going to resigned their reporters?
Critical and key newsroom functions:
List what are the functions you need to protect first.
Restoration:
Length of time to get your critical functions back into service. Use a scale from 0 to 10 with 0 being a very short time and 1 to 10 as the days to get things back and running. Consider 10 being +10 days. Make a list of operation restoration priorities. Prioritize the restoration based on the severity of the impact in your key services/needs.
Recovery:
Length of time to get back to normal.
Lighting can damage electronic equipment without striking it.
Get good and current local road maps.
DHS and FEMA report that more than 90% of natural disasters involve flooding.
Suppliers or vendors:
Make a list of key suppliers or service providers whose absence for more than 48 hours would shout you down. Plot their locations on a map. How far are they from your newsroom? Consider meeting with local vendors before the disaster and making alliances to get services from them. For example, gas station to help your reporters fill their tanks.
Service contracts:
List names, addresses and telephone numbers, along with contract number, client ID or customer number and contract’s expiration date. Add a summary of the service and terms of support during an emergency. Contact them in advance and ask them who you should call in case of a natural disaster. Sometimes they have special teams which differ from the daily emergency contact line. Ask them for the specific support hours. Let them know who’s your internal designated contact person in case they need to notify you about the suspension of their services.
Insurance policies:
Designate a person to be in charge of the insurance procedures. Chek limitations of your insurance policy and ask in the event of losses what do policies requiere to do. . Consider hiring additional coverage.
Emergency equipment list:
What are the equipment and materials needed to face a natural disaster in your area? Consider borrowing material from a sister company or a partner instead of buying them. Make cooperation agreements with them.
Emergency supplies:
Have stockpiles of critical supplies to ****
Pre-locate them.
Key passwords:
Your Emergency team must have access to all the most important passwords for services used in the newsroom. Have them printed, password managers might not be available during a disaster.
Every person in your news organization has different information needs and prefers specific channels of communication.
Where will the reporters work?
In the past, this was a very simple question. But with newsrooms all over the world working remotely, this is a question that needs to be addressed.
Karolyn Fox, the managing editor of the Tampa Bay, explained during the Symposium that while they were implementing their plan to cover Hurrican Ian in 2022, she had to check for hotels and other houses where reporters could stay and report not only safely but also to ensure their access to Intenet. In this case, three editors were relocated to Orlando to manage the newsroom operations.
- Which equipment and operations can be shut down first?
- Know the location of all your software licenses
- Have all your warranty information, registration codes, and keys to your hardware.
- When will operations be considered back to normal?
Now, let’s think about some roles.
The emergency plan will need someone to be the leader. It doesn’t mean that it has to be the President of News or the newsroom leader. It has to be someone who can lead people but who can be separated from their formal and daily responsibilities to be in charge during a natural disaster (or emergency). You’ll need an Emergency Plan Coordinator. They will not only write the emergency plan but also administer the plan once the natural disaster unfolds.
The Emergency Plan Coordinator will define the boundaries of the plan, its goals, and what success will look like. For one newsroom, it may be just keeping its website online and accessible. For other news organizations, it could be updating their site minute by minute. Just define what you think is the best for your stakeholders and the public, and stick to that main goal.
The Emergency Plan Coordinator will have to decide what to leave out of the plan, what coverages will shut down, and what services will no longer be available.
You will also need an Emergency Team who will work with the Emergency Plan Coordinator.
Who is who on this team?
In the context of an emergency, it is important to recognize that the composition of an Emergency team might deviate from the traditional organizational structure. In certain cases, it may even be necessary to depart from the established hierarchy. To ensure clarity and transparency, it is crucial to highlight the Emergency team and their respective roles in the official organizational chart of the newsroom. Additionally, it is advisable to create a parallel Emergency organizational chart, specifically designed for natural disasters (and other emergency situations), and prominently display it in key locations throughout the newsroom.
To further promote preparedness and familiarity with the emergency protocols, consider incorporating the Emergency plan into the onboarding process for all new employees. By doing so, you establish a foundation of awareness and readiness from the very beginning of their tenure.
Organizational charts serve as a representation of the formal lines of authority within a newsroom. However, it is important to acknowledge that the actual day-to-day flow of authority may differ from what is depicted in those charts. During emergencies created by hazards, the dynamics of decision-making and responsibility allocation can change rapidly. Therefore, it becomes necessary to adapt and respond accordingly, ensuring effective coordination and collaboration among the emergency team members.
By incorporating these strategies, newsrooms can enhance their emergency preparedness, foster a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities, and facilitate a smoother response during critical situations.
A comprehensive emergency preparedness team should be established within a news organization. This team consists of key positions such as the Emergency Plan Coordinator, Assistant to the Emergency Plan Coordinator, Administrative support to the Emergency Plan Coordinator, and a Sponsor of the Emergency Plan, who is typically the President or owner of the news organization. To ensure proactive readiness, these roles should be assigned well in advance of any potential natural disaster. It is imperative that their responsibilities and duties are clearly outlined in a pre-written directive.
To enhance their effectiveness, this emergency team should operate under the direct supervision of the top newsroom executives. In order to fully dedicate themselves to this critical task, team members must be relieved of their regular duties for an extended period, which could span several days or even weeks. Furthermore, they must be empowered with the authority to allocate financial resources and utilize other necessary assets as they see fit.
The level of support received by this emergency team is directly linked to their standing and prestige within the news organization. Hence, the higher their reputation and influence, the stronger the backing they will receive. By establishing and empowering this dedicated team, news organizations can effectively respond to crises, ensuring the safety of their personnel and maintaining the capacity to deliver timely and accurate information to the public.
In times of disaster, the Emergency Plan Coordinator must embody the essence of an orchestra conductor, adeptly guiding and uniting the team towards the common goal, and keeping everyone focused on the task they need to accomplish.. It is paramount that only one individual assumes the leadership position, ensuring clear direction and unwavering focus. While well-intentioned Vice Presidents or other executives may visit the newsroom, they have the right to be informed and briefed on the situation. However, it is important to emphasize that they do not possess the authority to issue directives or commands. The authority to lead rests solely with the Emergency Plan Coordinator, allowing for a cohesive and efficient response during challenging times. By upholding this principle, we eliminate confusion among employees, strengthen the integrity and effectiveness of our newsrooms, fostering an environment where teamwork and journalistic excellence thrive.
The Emergency Plan Coordinator sets recovery effort objectives, directs staff towards priorities, asks for assistance, activates the plan, assigns staff for the first 24/48/72 or more hours, assesses personnel skills and strengths, supervises incoming stories and needs related to them.
One of the first things you need to do is verify if you have certified first responders within the newsroom, including EMT qualified personnel, volunteer firefighters, military reserve or radio amateurs who can help with communications if the internet and mobile phones are down.
Key logs:
Sets of keys should be in hand of your Emergency team. They have to have full access to every single corner of the newsroom during a disaster. People should know who has keys to what rooms/cabinets/cupboards. Also, have a lits of local locksmiths close to your newsroom.
Command and control
Set objectives and priorities as the overall responsibility for them.
Contact your FEMA local office and ask for a meeting with them to set clear expectations of how you can have access to areas impacted by a natural disaster.
If you are hosting journalists from other newsrooms, make agreements with them on what’s confidential, what content you can share and how they can contribute to your own coverage. We host reporters from major US news organizations, news agencies and they never even quoted us, while using our facilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Making decisions
Write what needs to be done once the natural disaster unfolds. For example, in the event of a tornado hitting your area during a holiday, who will be deployed where; who will check the newsroom building; who will be in charge of checking if the staff is ok, etc.? (We will get back to this later in the guide).
Sequence the tasks that need to be executed, by who, if each task has a deadline, and if it
Possible scenarios/risks
Identify what needs to be done in the event of specific scenarios. For example:
- The newsroom loses power
- The newsroom loses Internet connection
- The newsroom gets flooded
- The newsroom is invaded by volunteers who want to help
- The newsroom gets full of an audience looking for information
Responses/actions
It’s important to standardize specific decisions and tab them to avoid constant back and forth when it comes to deciding what to do in the event of forecastable situations.
Communications while executing your emergency plan
During natural disasters people get very anxious and they want to get information from every single source possible. Some people may try to contact you privately thinking that you might have some “secret” information that you are not publishing and keeping to yourself, which is not true. Be ready to set boundaries, especially with stakeholders like Board of directors, shareholders and other members of your organization. As it happened to me in the past, you might even get calls from majors, representatives and even governors asking for information.
Who needs to report what, to who, when, or how often, and through what methods is something that you need to decide.
Will you update the information on a board? Will you send internal emails? Will you set up calls for everyone to join? Will you deliver printed meeting minutes notes? Will you distribute memos? Will you use posters on a wall? Consider putting important messages on bathroom doors.
Ambassador Peter Bodde, who was in charge of the emergency response in Nepal and **while ***, told during the Symposium that he implemented a schedule to deliver updates to the US State Department. He suggested doing the same while covering a natural disaster to avoid constant calls from different stakeholders. While I was covering a natural disaster in Puerto Rico, I witnessed how employees were trying to get information from reporters to see if it was safe to go and check their vacation houses in other parts of the Island. You need to set clear boundaries and expectations on what information, beyond what’s published, the newsroom will provide and when. For example, the news organization can update investors every morning during a call, or once a week. But it doesn’t mean that the newsroom needs to be involved in it. Within big news organizations, this might sound obvious, but when it comes to small newsrooms, where everyone does a little bit of everything, the boundaries are not so clear.
You can offer a regular bulletin to update people related to the newsroom but who are not part of it.
Regarding your readers, a good idea is to let them know before the natural disaster happens what to expect from you. For example, you can let them know, if a hurricane is coming, that you will stop sending your weekly newsletter or that you will replace them with a special edition about the hurricane. You can let them know how often they will get alerts, updates on your website or in social media. You can even run an ad campaign with this information.
Outbound communications
It is crucial to establish clear guidelines regarding reporters being approached by external news outlets from different cities, states, or even countries. It is imperative to define and communicate clear expectations regarding the most suitable person to represent the newsroom in each specific case.
This not only streamlines the communication process but also enables effective representation and accurate dissemination of information.
Establishing a well-defined framework for such scenarios allows for consistent decision-making and ensures that the right expertise and context are brought to the forefront. It empowers news organizations to respond in a coordinated and strategic manner, maximizing their ability to convey accurate and relevant stories to a broader audience.
When meeting during a natural disaster
Set an agenda for each meeting and an order to speak. Keep it short and focused. Have someone in charge of controlling the time and taking notes during the meeting. Ask especifi questions and ask people to not speculate. If they don’t know something, they have to say it. Tell your staff what you need from them. Do a recap of the decisions and who will be responsible for what. Communicate the time and place for the next meeting and ask for confirmation. Try to have fixed schedules and rooms where these meetings take place.
Budget for the plan
Test the plan
It’s key to organize drills and test the plan once it’s finished and revised. Organize a post-mortem meeting to evaluate what went well and what didn’t. Take notes of the lessons learned and the suggestions.
What happened?
What should have happened?
What went well?
What went poorly?
Why do you think it failed?
What were the areas or situations we didn’t cover?
What shall we do differently in the future?
Evaluate the results
Analyze the answers provided by your team. Consider what suggestions can be added at this point in the plan, and what needs to be included in the future. You can divide them into Must have, Nice to have, Dream to have.
Show gratitude
Thank the team for participating in the drill, and explain what suggestions have been included in the new plan and what will be included in the future and why. People need to know their ideas are listened and they can contribute.
If it’s possible, provide some kind of reward. It could be from restaurant gift cards to books or any idea you might think your team will like. Showing gratitude will help them be more willing to participate in the future.
Give each team member a printed version of the final plan they helped to build. Include them in the first pages. “This emergency plan was elaborated by…”
Each hazard has unique qualities, but also common things.
Five phases:
