Coping with the media during emergencies

Radiation emergencies can quickly attract the attention of the Media. Scientific Experts responding to the emergency can find that they are in the forefront of press attention, distracting them from their main objectives. Whilst the police take a lead in dealing with the Media, experts cannot avoid becoming involved: a consideration when drawing up Response Plants. The Media respond rapidly to a national or international incident, with reporters arriving within minutes, and satellite vans, capable of beaming images across the world, shortly afterwards. When Michel Schumacher was recently admitted to Northampton General Hospital after breaking his leg inn the British Grand Prix, the local press arrived at the hospital before he did, with international press arriving within minutes, and the first satellite van within an hour. UK police now consider it appropriate for a simple statement to be released as soon after the incident as possible, rather than allow rumor to circulate. Although such a statement is agreed before making it, a press conference involving an expert is preferred to cover the more technical questions. The expert will need to try out simple descriptions of the degree of public risk (e.g. equivalent to a couple of Chest X-ray) with the Police Press Office before conference. This can delay the expert's other required actions. Thus when depleted uranium filings were found in a field in Northampton-shire in 1995, the first Press Conference was made outside the site before the waste had been fully assessed. The Media also require visual images. This leads them to enter a restricted site, or over-fly with helicopters. Thus the Emergency Response Team need to consider whether it is necessary to increase police resource to restrict access, or to organize a photo session of the site, with necessary decontamination monitoring afterwards. This latter option was taken in the uranium incident as the police considered it was impossible to limit access to the field. This delayed some vital monitoring of the local population for contamination. However, the Media are the ideal conduit for informing the general public, and are essential if affected members of the public need to be contacted. In the uranium incident, it was clear that the uranium had been dumped on the site many months before, and that many people had been on the site using it as an adventure playground, to dump rubbish, watch the local hunt, pick apples, or search scrap. These needed to be contacted to ascertain that they had not been contaminated. In this case, the Media (primarily local but also national) was vital in distributing details of the help line. The Media can arrive promptly at incidents, and modern electronics allows them to beam sound and images to a worldwide, local, regional, national and international audience shortly afterwards. Thus a Radiation Incident Response Plan must consider responding to the Media promptly and responsibly. The Media are essential in ensuring a balanced report reaches the public, and may be required to alert sections of the public. (author)