Having real-time information on what is being said in the media — and on social media — is critical for an effective response in all areas of corporate communication.
As a junior member of the staff who tracks down each and every soundbite, clip, headline and social media post on our clients, I can add, news monitoring may seem like an elementary exercise, but it keeps us plugged into the news and provides the firm with an unabridged view of how news is disseminated during times of crisis or positive headline news.
Using a variety of news monitoring tools and a well-informed staff, we are alerted 24/7 to breaking news on our clients from media sources, tweets, newsletters, broadcast segments, podcasts, etc.
We watch client news break and develop, compiling coverage for days, and sometimes weeks thereafter as news is distributed across smaller, regional media outlets and trade publications.
This acute attention to the media landscape, enables us to develop communication plans with our clients so that when news strikes, they are prepared with strategies that address the situation in a timely fashion.
By remaining plugged into social media and the media landscape, we are also able to breakdown how narratives evolve and plan ahead for potential situations and outcomes that may arise. Media monitoring also keeps us mindful that statements companies provide will inevitably be re-quoted, hyper-linked back to in other coverage, and redistributed in many iterations.
Stanton strives to always identify vulnerabilities in advance, thinks through potential scenarios, and develops a clear roadmap for effective navigation of headline attention. Because, even though reporter inquiries will die down and audiences will shift their attention to the next news story, how and what you communicate will remain on the record forever.
– Emily Meringolo
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