Kriskommunikation

Kriskommunikation is the practice of communicating about crises and hazards to inform, reassure, and protect stakeholders. It spans preventive risk communication and reactive crisis communication. It is used by governments, businesses, and organizations to manage information flow during emergencies and to address public concerns.

Goals include ensuring public safety, maintaining trust, minimizing harm, providing timely and accurate information, countering misinformation, and complying with legal requirements. Stakeholders typically include employees, customers, residents, media, and authorities.

Core elements of kriskommunikation are crisis communication planning (plans, roles, spokesperson), audience analysis, key messages, channel strategy, monitoring and feedback, and ethics and transparency. Emphasis is placed on consistency, honesty about uncertainty, empathy, and accountability. Messages should be clear, concise, and in accessible language; crisis communications often use short updates, designated contact points, and safety instructions.

Process follows phases of prevention and preparedness (risk assessment, drills, relationships with media and authorities), response (situational awareness, message development, rapid dissemination, official channels), and recovery (post-crisis analysis, reputational rebuilding). The use of multiple channels (press conferences, official websites, social media, hotlines) and two-way communication with audiences is common.

Challenges include misinformation and rumor control, speed-accuracy trade-offs, language and cultural differences, resource constraints, and legal or privacy considerations. Success indicators include message reach, public understanding, behavior change, and overall stakeholder trust. Kriskommunikation aims to support informed decision-making and coordinated action during and after crises.