News & Events

It’s that time of year again: SEPHLI Scholars Prepare to "Deal with the Media"

Bob Howard with VA Scholar, Kay Rankin, in Media Communications Exercise

It’s that time of year again!  During the third quarter of the SEPHLI curriculum, scholars prepare to be tested on their crisis communications skills.  This team assignment, called "Public Communications: Dealing with the Media", is designed to prepare scholars for "dealing with the media" during times of public health crisis, or communications crisis.  For this assignment, scholars identify a topic that public health leaders need to be prepared to speak about in the event that a reporter calls for an interview. Each team nominates one of its members and prepares him/her to be interviewed by the media on this issue.  The scholars learn about crisis communications during the May Retreat in two sessions, "Dealing with the Media" and "Crisis Communications," facilitated by Robert J. Howard, President of Howard & Associates, Inc.  The media interview is designed as a follow-up exercise from the May Retreat where scholars put their newly learned communications skills to the test. 

Each team is expected to research their topic and provide SEPHLI with their Single Overriding Communications Objective (SOCO), three Message Maps outlining their three key messages, a comprehensive list of questions that a reporter might ask, and research including background materials as part of this assignment.

Below are the topics to be discussed during this year’s media interviews:

• Avian influenza identified in a bird in the SEPHLI jurisdiction
• Charleston, SC Community Exposed to TB
• Pan flu strikes community
• Insufficient Funds for Life-Saving HIV Medication Program
• Institute of Medicine Nutrition Standards for food in schools
• Increase in SIDS deaths in SEPHLI county
• Rabies Awareness and Prevention