When Families Deserve Answers: Communicating with Care During a Crisis

In every major crisis, families are the ones who wait longest, worry hardest, and remember most. For them, a communication failure isn’t an inconvenience; it’s a wound that can last for years.

As public communicators, we often prioritise the “public at large” or the “media narrative.” That’s understandable — those audiences are loud and demanding. But families affected by a crisis are the ones who truly deserve our clearest, most careful communication. How you speak to them — and when — will define whether they see your agency as human and trustworthy, or cold and distant.