Tag Archives: pandemic

Ethics during a Pandemic – An example from the airline sector

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Ethics has never mattered more. And communicators need to think carefully about whether their messaging is both accurate and ethical

The past twelve months has been the hardest I can remember as a communicator. And one of the big issues we’re all facing is on ethics. Given it’s ethics month for our profession (thank you for this initiative Global Alliance), I wanted to highlight the issues around ethics. We’re being pushed to get out news that’ll raise confidence in our organizations and industries, but the big downside is obviously sharing information that isn’t fully accurate. The consequence of this is a trust deficit, both in our brands as well as the response to the pandemic.

One example that I saw this past week was from Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-based airline. The company’s CEO spoke to Bloomberg and made the claim, as reported by Bloomberg, that the airline is the first to fully vaccinate its crew (you can see the interview here).

Etihad followed this up with a press release and social media posts, an example of which is below.

I understand the airline’s challenge. The aviation sector has been hit harder than any other industry. And they want to give people the confidence to fly again. They also want to assure governments they’re doing everything they can to keep people safe and not spread the virus.

The danger is that this information isn’t fully accurate. How do you define vaccinated? Well, it turns out our definitions may not be the same as the airline. Reuters did good work and asked that question. It turns out that Etihad hadn’t given all of its staff two doses, which is required by pretty much every available vaccine here in the country (you can read the report here).

In a rush to get out a positive headline, was the decision that the Etihad team took the right one? Will their messaging now engender trust? If Reuters hadn’t have asked the right questions, we wouldn’t have even gotten to the accurate, factual picture behind the headline.

Trust matters more than ever. And we have to be as accurate as we possibly can so that our stakeholders understand what is happening and why. Let me know your stories this ethics month. And let’s remember that ethics will always matter. Our interpretations may differ, but the facts don’t change.

It’s the media’s job to ask hard questions. And we should listen.

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For anyone who has any sense of perspective and basic awareness about what we’ve lived through over the preceding 10 months, it was pretty clear what would happen to Covid cases over the holiday period. Increased social activity, inbound tourism and generally more latitude to enable both led to an increase in positive cases. It was entirely predictable.

And yet, I’m genuinely confused. There have been very few voices criticising social media “influencers” for their behaviour while on their “essential business” trips to the country. For me, there hasn’t been enough focus on the messaging that we are “all in it together” and should, as a result, take the necessary precautions to safeguard one another. And there’s been precious little commentary on lessons learned.

Instead, as the numbers continued to climb, we all looked towards the media and their “irresponsible wording”.

I’m just as critical as anyone of the media; that’s the legacy of my journalistic past – to criticise what others write far too freely. However, it’s folly to lay the blame at the feet of the witness.

I’ve read so many hot takes this week about what has been reported on Dubai and the UAE by the international media: the foreign journalists don’t know us (despite many of them having lived for years here and writing some of the best reporting on the country); we’re doing better than others (I’m sorry, but we’re not New Zealand or South Korea), and “we know best”, which is the new “if you don’t like it, you can leave” argument.

Can anyone say, with any sense of self-respect, that the foreign media is to blame for what’s going on? If they’re not, why do we then attack them for what they write about what has happened over the end-of-year period? Which is, in effect, what all of us saw, either face-to-face or on our social media timelines? And, for those accusing them of this, where were you a month ago when all of this was unfolding?

The value of hard truths

I believe that hard truths are often better for us than being told what we want to hear. The reporting about the case numbers and the reasons behind their rise has acted as a wake-up call for many. It’s focused us all on what we need to do to keep people safe and led the authorities to take steps that’ll stop the spread of the disease. And for that, I’m thankful.

Instead of attacking some media outlets for asking difficult questions – which is, in fact, their job – why aren’t we asking ourselves about the importance of both accountability and tolerance? Across the world over, the media have done some of their most important work in asking why we have responded the way we have. They’ve spoken to the medical experts and they’ve communicated in plain language what we all need to understand, often better than others.

I’d go even farther and say that the best media has helped to save lives. I for one am grateful for the media’s work in 2020, for the reporting and coverage that have helped people truly understand what we are up against. And I expect the same of them in 2021.

For all of our sakes, they should keep on asking hard questions.

Communicators are essential to ending the pandemic

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We all want to take off our masks; the sooner we end this pandemic, the better. And communications will be vital to ensuring the public does what it must to support health and safety/vaccination campaigns

It’s the new year, and a time for renewed hope. Just like me, many of you will be happy to see the back of 2020. The pandemic has caused so much harm and devastation. And we have a host of vaccines to choose from to protect us from the worst of the coronavirus. And yet, we’re not over the pandemic yet. The numbers are going up globally, and we can expect the worst spikes in the days to come following socializing over the holidays.

What’s the most frustrating is that the end is in sight. In a matter of months, hundreds of millions of people can and should be vaccinated, providing a level of herd immunity in many countries that’ll slow down the spread of the virus.

While we can end the pandemic, there’s a number of complications. The first is people disregarding health and safety guidance, including the wearing of masks and social distancing – this speeds up the spread of the virus and diverts medical attention to treating the sick and away from inoculation campaigns. The second is those who don’t want to get vaccinated.

Over the past year, those working in the communications industry have been dedicated to supporting their organizations raise awareness of health and safety best practices. They’ve created millions of hours’ worth of content and pushed it out to workforces. They’ve developed an understanding of what types of messaging work, and how to best push this messaging out to make people understand how their behaviors and actions can keep them and their loved ones safe.

Given the fatigue after what we’ve gone through and the reluctance, even skepticism, about vaccinations among the public, it’s time for the communications industry to support and even lead awareness campaigns. Two issues are key – the first is to get home the message that the coronavirus is still rife and we must all behave responsibly. The second is to correct misconceptions and even fake news about new medicines and vaccines (I’m not putting any stock in the social media platforms and their pledges to remove fake news on their sites).

What we need is an industry-led effort, guided and directed by those national and international associations through whom we can combine learnings, ideas and activities. I’m convinced that hundreds or thousands of communicator volunteers would join and help win the trust of the public. For every person who follows mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines, and is convinced to be vaccinated, we’re one step closer to getting case numbers down.

I’ve seen how communicators responded to when the coronavirus first hit; they gave their time and energy for free, and supported colleagues who were struggling with how to respond. And I know that they’ll want to play their part now, to come up with ideas that’ll capture the public’s attention to change both attitudes and behaviors. The idea could be simple as social media visuals for people to use when they’ve been vaccinated or using storytelling for hard-to-reach communities.

There are so many ways for communications around these issues to be done better. If any communicator wants to make a resolution for 2021, let it be for them to have an opportunity to contribute to a global campaign to make the public understand what they need to do and then get them to do it. The art of communication has never been more important, and that’s why for me 2021 should be the year of the communicator. Communications is key to us ending the pandemic as soon as possible.

This piece first ran in Arabian Business.

A Long, Hard Slog: Looking Forward to 2021

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You don’t need a crystal ball to see that 2021 will be a tough year for communicators

I hope I haven’t put you off reading this blog, but I wanted to spell out in simple terms what we communicators can expect in 2021. Whilst we do have vaccines and many countries are rolling out inoculation programmes, many of the fundamentals are the same as last year – we’re facing a global pandemic, many people are falling sick, and even more are ignoring health and safety advice. There’ll be more economic ups and downs, lockdowns, and stimulus plans. And communicators will have to do crisis comms on top of their daily work.

Let’s look at the basics, as to where the big focus areas will be in 2021.

Internal Comms is still a top priority

Last year was momentous for internal communications, especially in markets/regions where the function came a distant second to external communications. During the pandemic’s first couple of months, the focus shifted inwards. Communicators were tasked with ensuring employees were educated on health and safety, and in pushing executive messaging. Internal communications came into its own, and the value of good internal communicators was obvious.

Given the state of the pandemic in most countries, I expect that internal communications will remain key to every organization over the next twelve months. Not only will internal comms be top of mind for leadership, we’ll also see more innovation in this space. The number of employee podcasts launched last year in the UAE alone surprised me (though I do wish we’d learn to create content simply and timely, rather than overproduce). We’ll also see more use of martech in the internal comms space in 2021. This is an area to watch and, if you’re a young communicator, focus on for growth and specialization.

Budgets/Owned Content are King for External Comms

On the external side, there’s two issues that’ll determine how well you’ll be able to communicate. The first is money. Specifically, it’s how much money you’ll spend on advertising with your media partners. Last year was brutal for publishers, and the editorial mandate is simple – any editorial space will go to advertisers. I know many editors who aren’t happy with this, but they have little room to maneuver. Unless you have an absolutely brilliant media relations person who’s quite literally related to every journalist out there, you’ll need to up your ad spend if you want to get more coverage.

The other route is owned content. And expect to see more blogs, vlogs and podcasts being launched in 2021 (I’ll admit, I was expecting more in this space in 2020). External communicators are going to focus on their media creation and editing skills in 2021, or spend more money on agencies to help out. There’s still the obvious challenge of amplification – if you’re pushing out via social media, you’ll need to either put ad spend in or work with influencers (including your own employees). The other route to take is using emailers. It’ll be fascinating to watch what happens in the external comms space in 2021.

Fighting Fake News and Rebuilding Trust

The pandemic won’t be over until enough people are immune/following health and safety rules. And, as we’ve seen in 2020, there’s a large segment of society that don’t believe what is said, or just ignore the advice. The biggest challenge for every communicator out there is to work to combat fake news, especially online, as well as regain the trust of the vast majority of the population. I’m already seeing people I know who don’t want to get vaccinated because of what they’re seeing on social media, despite them having relatives who have had this terrible disease.

What’s also apparent is that healthcare communicators need help. Just as the industry came together last spring to help those Communicators who needed support, I feel we need a global effort to come up with ideas and campaigns that’ll promote vaccinations and burst fake need bubbles (I don’t expect any help from the social media platforms on this issue). I’ll write more on this in the coming days.

They’re my three big thoughts for 2021. Let me know yours. And, whatever happens, I wish you all the best of health and success for the coming 12 months.