By Lucy Downham, Chart.PRService Lead – Communications and Public Relations
Customer Transformation, Wigan Council
I’m just on my way home from Reading having spent the day at the LGA’s communications’ leader network meeting.
The sessions, which started earlier this year, were instigated by the Local Government Association and chaired by PR expert Darren Caveney, to bring heads of the PR profession together to share best practice and discuss some of the biggest issues affecting local authorities and the profession.
Today’s session included a presentation from Liverpool City Council’s Camilla Mankabady, Liverpool City Council’s Director of Communications and Michael Doran, external relations manager who shared their recent response to the riots and community unrest in the wake of the Southport tragedy. Their presentation struck a chord with me and many others who have also been affected by civil unrest and community tension in some shape or form in recent weeks.
Fears that Wigan was to become the latest battleground in a week of anti-immigration criminal violence last month were luckily unfounded, with just a handful of protesters attending.
Admittedly I spent half of August on holiday, leaving my colleagues to deal with the events which began to unfold following that awful event. It’s a running joke in our office that when I go on leave something big happens so the team know to prepare for the worst. The last time was when the Queen died and before that another Covid lockdown.
In my absence, colleagues spent evenings in the CCTV suite and weekends in comms cells, working with the police and other partners to develop our response and to monitor activity across the borough, ready to respond to anything that came their way.
Like other local authorities, our newsfeeds were filled with mis and disinformation designed to spread fear and panic and incite hatred and violence – highlighting the escalating issue and impact of fake news during times of crisis and the difficulty in policing social media.
Over on Elon Musk’s ‘X’ formerly Twitter platform, the misinformation over the identity, ethnicity and faith of the killer of the three young girls in Southport incited explicitly racist unrest across the UK. Following that and the rise in hate speech on the platform by far-right extremists and the lack of rebuttal and retribution by Musk and the authorities, many organisations made the decision to leave the ‘toxic’ platform.
Members of our senior leadership team asked whether we should follow suit on ethical grounds. As it stands, we’re still hanging on, hoping that our presence can at least help to control the narrative and provide an authentic and trusted voice amongst the chaos. But it’s a watching brief.
Recent events demonstrate the important role of communications in times of crisis and in recovery. But the riots were just the beginning of a world which is sadly becoming unpredictable and unstable where social media can shape views and incite a response.
Can we all honestly say we’re confident that we have the resources and know-how to continue operating in this new world?
In Wigan we’ve just been added to the civil contingencies’ duty rota in recognition of the central role we play in emergencies. Before now we’ve been on call informally for several years, but now our duty rota system allows for a much slicker operation. That reminds me, my duty shift starts tonight!
Before I sign off, here’s some key takeaways to think about:
- Do you have a robust emergency communications strategy, which has been signed off by partners and a formal duty arrangement for staff? We brought the Emergency Planning College in to help develop ours – worth booking them if you can.
- Does your organisation have a clear stance on hate and discrimination? Are your leaders confident to front that stance and ready to put their money where their mouth is?
- Are you listening to your workforce? Is your team and wider workforce diverse enough to be able to provide intelligence, challenge decisions and advise on these difficult subjects?
- Community networks – who are your informers? Who can you reach out to in the community to get a sense of what’s happening on the ground.
- Internal communications – don’t forget staff! Is this factored into your emergency plan and are internal comms in the cell meetings?
- Does your organisation have an equality and diversity strategy? If yes, it’s time to familiarise yourself with it.
At next month’s LGComms Academy delegates will be given the opportunity to hear more about these emerging issues and hear from those involved firsthand.
To book on visit: Academy 2024 | Booking form – LGcomms