The role of social media in Crisis Communication - challenges of professional media

Abstract

There are four main pillars of crisis communication - crisis, communication, social media and media. The greatest contribution of professional media in crisis communication is not only because "the medium is the message" or "the cultural memory of our society"! It doesn't matter if we believe the reality offered by the professional media (which is often based on assumptions), it is the most powerful and influential communication tool that has the leverage to balance the power of social media.

From this perspective, when any media includes multimedia content, the article refers to the media as "classical media". Classical media is not only an interested party in crisis communication, it is part of the business world and crises are inevitable for it. How does the media behave in a crisis? - To illustrate this, the article discusses the BBC's 2012 "Savile Case" and evaluates the features of the media crisis.

But effective communication with Classican (professional) media alone does not determine the success of crisis communication. The reciprocity of communication has turned users of social networks from passive recipients of information into observers and participants of crisis communication. Therefore, the paper discusses the need for a complex approach to internal and external communication with employees, direct customers, partners, other stakeholders and the digital audience itself.