VIII. Communication Strategies

A strong internal and external communication strategy related to security is critical to the success of an MSE. The objective should be to build and maintain public confidence in the security measures, to engage in transparent and timely interactions with the media and other external stakeholders, while protecting the integrity of the security operations, and to provide timely communications, both internally and externally.

1 Effective Communication with MSE Security

Stakeholders

Strategies that produce effective communication with stakeholders are generally established around six core benchmarks:96

96 World Health Organization. WHO Strategic Communications Framework for Effective Communications. 2017, see https://www. who.int/mediacentre/communication-framework.pdf?ua=1.

• Accessible: Stakeholders must be able to access the information they need to make informed decisions and fulfil their respective roles in security planning and operations. Organizers should identify all channels that are available and map their capacities to reach priority audiences.

• Credible and trusted: Building an open and transparent environment to facilitate cooperation among stakeholders is critical to ensure stakeholders undertake appropriate measures to support security operations. Organizers need to demonstrate competence, dependability and willingness to engage stakeholders early and often.

• Timely: Organizers must communicate in a manner that ensures stakeholders feel included in the process and allows them the time to make informed decisions and take appropriate action.

• Actionable: To be successful, organizers must understand their audiences’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in order to create messages that address barriers and encourage decision-makers to take the recommended steps.

• Relevant: Effective communications need to be useful and helpful to their target audience.

• Understandable: The various stakeholders involved in security planning will have different areas of expertise and levels of technical knowledge. Host organizers must ensure that communications be tailored to specific audiences, and that information be precise, understandable, and clearly convey the action you want the audience to take.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

• Supporter organizations are a direct channel to disseminate security protocol information to fans who plan to attend the event.

• As part of the planning exercise, organizers will be working to encourage partners to adopt certain activities or behaviours to support event security.

• Partners from international Governments might not need to be told details of venue security; however, they would need to be informed about risks that could impact them at a national level (e.g. safety and security of their participating athletes, secondment of police forces, etc.). Similarly, security operations may include emergency management, public health, transportation, public works, and the private sector, but not every stakeholder will need the same level of detail.

2 Internal Communication Strategies

As set out above, effective internal communications will set the stage for proper and professional external communications when it comes to security matters. In addition to communications experts who would be located within the LOC (but generally will be tasked on external communications), it is recommended that an Integrated Security Communication Team (ISCT) be created with the responsibility of sharing information and addressing communication/media issues that may affect the security of the MSE. The ISCT should develop and implement a coordinated and integrated external communications and social media strategy to convey a clear, transparent, timely, consistent and coordinated messaging to all involved and impacted by the MSE.

The following are some considerations to be taken into account by the Integrated Security Communication Team:

• Establish and maintain an open dialogue with the public, the business community, activist groups and the media to address concerns and work together towards a peaceful and safe MSE. The promotion of partnership among the participating security, government, organizing committees, stadium event planners and corporate partners for the MSE is critical.

• Take full advantage of the Internet and social media to inform all stakeholders, including the public, about the security measures in place and how these will affect them (e.g. road closures and event dedicated roads, special public transportation measures).

• Use tools to monitor social media trending that can supply situational awareness of current events, forward findings to an event-specific Unified Command Centre, and take appropriate action. Web exchanges in social media allow interpretation of the public mood and can, to some extent, even predict people’s likely behaviours in certain situations. By leveraging social media, planners can gain greater situational awareness and enhance communication strategies. Social media monitoring should always be conducted within the confines of the law and with due respect for existing privacy regulations.

3 External Communication Strategies

u Communication with the Public

A strategy to communicate with the public is paramount during all stages of the MSE life cycle, i.e.:

• during the Exploratory and Bidding Phases it should help to create momentum, enthusiasm, engagement and a common sense of purpose within the community;

• during the Planning Phase it should maintain momentum, popular and political support, and create transparency as to how public resources are being used;

• during the Implementation Phase, a good external communication strategy should keep spectators and staff properly informed, which can also contribute to better surveillance and detection of threats; and

• during the Post-event Phase, it should communicate the positive impacts of the MSE on the community and Host Authorities.

u Community Relations Group

Intrinsic to proper public engagement and also one of the most important elements to be considered in the communication strategy is the creation of a Community Relations Group (CRG), mandated to establish and maintain open and transparent lines of communication with all stakeholders who may be affected, directly or indirectly, by the preparations for the MSE (e.g. local business operators and community residents). Establishing mechanisms for consultation and collaboration with these groups can help improve specific aspects of security planning and operations, e.g. local groups dedicated to special issues such as youth radicalization and prevention of violent extremism. This can enhance understanding of the local context and provide information which might be useful in security planning. In the safety field, local communities are also a source of knowledge on vulnerable people or persons with disabilities who should be considered during crowd management or at security checkpoints.

u Communication with other External Stakeholders

Another key part of communication with the public involves all relevant stakeholders as trusted partners in the security system. In practice, this means that:

• Security Planners need to be both informed and consulted about decisions, thus creating two-way communication.

• Organizing committees, government agencies and business-sector entities have to become involved in the decision-making process regarding security issues.

u Media Engagement

The media have the ability to influence public perception of the security process positively or negatively. There must be a strategy to keep the media informed of relevant information impacting the broader public interest. A plan to directly engage the local media and the public to address concerns as to how the event might affect the local community must be made and implemented. An example of this was the communication of the security strategy for the London 2012 Olympic Games in which a picture of a battleship on the River Thames equipped with missile launchers became a symbol of the security operation for the Games. With more thorough media engagement and a better communications plan, this military display could have been packaged in a more positive way.

u Social Media

Social media have become a powerful tool for reaching diverse audiences, including when it comes to conveying security measures. Furthermore, through frequent communication on social media platforms, the LOC can maintain a constant dialogue with the public, and thereby can build trust in the community, which in turn enhances security.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Communication strategies

• Design a strong internal and external communication strategy aimed at a) building and maintaining public confidence in the security measures, b) engaging in transparent and timely interactions with the media and other external stakeholders; and c) providing timely communications, both internally and externally.

• Set up an Integrated Security Communication Team (ISCT) with the responsibility of sharing information and addressing communication/media issues that may affect the security of the MSE.

• Channel all requests for external communications through the ISCT to ensure consistency and avoid conflicting messages.

• Develop a strategy to communicate with the public audience during all stages of the

MSE life cycle as well as the planning phase.

• Set up a Community Relations Group (CRG) in charge of establishing and maintaining open and transparent lines of communication with all stakeholders who may be affected, directly or indirectly, by the preparations for the MSE (e.g. local business operators and community residents).

• Create a Community Activist Liaison (CAL) to ensure that there is an ongoing dialogue with activists and that their right to protest is acknowledged while being informed of police expectations, actions and consequences. CALs can be used to help enforce designated, agreed-upon protest areas.

• Keep the media abreast of facts and situations impacting the broader public interest.

• Plan to directly engage local media and the public to address concerns as to how the event might affect the local community.