Media Monitoring Standard Operations Guidelines

These media monitoring standard operations guidelines SOG provide procedures for locating and reporting on traditional and social media sources within the scope of a given response, as w

Version 2.0 – 05/26/11

Florida Department of Health

All-Hazards Media Monitoring

Standard Operations Guidelines

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Media Monitoring Process

Executive Summary

Monitoring media sources during a response assist the members of a Joint Information Center (JIC) in addressing issues as they arise, assessing how disseminated messages are being perceived and expressed, and measuring the response to the disseminated messages by stakeholders and the general public Information gathered in the media monitoring process is shared throughout the chain of command and utilized by various sections and units for planning, strategy, and rumor control and investigation

This scalable process can be activated for smaller incidents or for larger responses The use of this process is appropriate during an Emergency Support Function (ESF)-8 event or a targeted activation at the local, regional, and state level The process takes place in coordination with the JIC or the Information Management Branch or Unit (IMB/IMU)- which can be part of the

Operations or Planning Section - and other branches of the Incident Command structure These Standard Operating Guidelines are to be used during a response with and align to the Rumor Investigation and Control Standard Operating Guidelines, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Annex, and the state

JIC/Joint Information System (JIS) Guidelines

This dynamic document is based on a survey of recipients of previous media monitoring reports during the 2009-10 H1N1 and 2010 Deepwater Horizon responses

Overview

Media outlets in the United States are experiencing a transition in perception, credibility, and survival Traditional forms of media including newspapers, radio, and television, are evolving to keep up with online sources including blogs, social networking sites, and mobile phone

applications With the dramatic increase in speed at which media conveys information to the public, the need for accurate, timely, and pertinent information dissemination is crucial to an organization’s perception and credibility The attention to this information dissemination process

is compounded during an emergency response

These media monitoring standard operations guidelines (SOG) provide procedures for locating and reporting on traditional and social media sources within the scope of a given response, as well as ascertaining credible versus non-credible media sources The scope of the process is event and location specific with focus on the county but not exceeding the state of Florida For this report, the process for state level media monitoring will be clarified with advisement for counties and regions Prior to its development, an assessment tool was developed and

implemented to determine the satisfaction of recipients of media monitoring reports during prior responses Questions included open- and closed-ended, multiple choice, and Likert Scale Survey questions inquired about the use of the reports, likes, dislikes, recommendations for improvement, and their ability to incorporate the information from the reports in their response roles Results were analyzed and are reflected in this SOG

Process

Information is obtained through continuous monitoring of sources of hearsay, social media, conference calls, meetings, and news media by the Media Monitoring Unit A list of potential sources is located in Attachment 1

At the state level, the social media report utilizes Twitter and Technorati as source aggregators The Google News, Sayfie Review, Capitol News Service, AP, and DOH Communication Clips, are used as source aggregators for the Florida Media Report It is important to review

mainstream and social media from local sources e.g The Miami Herald, WCTV Channel 6, especially ethnic media On a statewide, national, or international level, utilizing Google Trends

to measure how the event is trending compared to other news topics may help assess how much coverage events are receiving in the media An example of this can be found in

Attachment 5 This will help with assessing message perception and shape message strategy to target audiences

The use of this process is appropriate during an ESF-8 event or a targeted activation at the local, regional, and state level The process takes place in coordination with the JIC or the IMB/IMU (which can be part of the Operations or Planning Section) and other branches of the Incident Command structure and in partnership with the Rumor Investigation and Control Unit

Staffing/Gathering Information

In accordance with the JIC/JIS Guidelines for PIO Position Typing, the staff for media monitoring and rumor control should be of a Type II or above to serve in this role Often these roles are linked to that of the Assistant Lead PIO in the JIC

The JIC/IMB Media Monitoring Unit screens Twitter, blogs and mainstream news media for

current stories, reports, and rumors This information is compiled in two reports – the Florida Media Report and the Social Media Report - and disseminated through the

StateESF8_Communications eMailbox Examples of these can be found in Attachments 3 and

4 An abridged version of these reports is helpful if the recipients of these reports are reviewing these on Blackberries or another type of mobile technology An example of this is located in Attachment 2

The responsibilities of the Media Monitoring Unit fall to the JIC/IMB Information Triage Analyst

who continually monitors the State ESF8-Planning eMailbox and StateESF8 Communications eMailbox for information circulating at the local level This person also screens Twitter, blogs and mainstream news media for current stories, reports, and rumors

Rumors are reported to the Rumor Report Analyst Information about these responsibilities and the purpose and scope of the Rumor Control and Investigation Unit are located in the Rumor Control and Investigation Standard Operating Guidelines

Timely knowledge of media reports is a critical factor in situation awareness and a necessity for planning and developing strategies for appropriate public health messaging during a response The schedule for distribution of media monitoring reports may resemble the following example:

10:00 a.m - Social media report (StateESF8_Communications email to

StateESF8Planning eMailbox and CHD PIOs - from JIC) 11:00 a.m – Mainstream media report (StateESF8_Communications email to

StateESF8Planning eMailbox and CHD PIOs - from JIC) Foreign media reports will be monitored for emerging information that may impact U.S and Florida response operations (e.g., reports of changes in virus characteristics, shift in weather patterns, etc.) Although foreign media reports are not typically included in the daily media monitoring reports due to the limitation of the scope of the event and jurisdiction, they may be included as issues of interest to the response as determined by the Incident Commander

Reporting-Social Media Report

Reports are divided into the Social Media Report and Florida Media Report Disclaimers are placed at the top of each report providing scope for each report The Social Media Report includes the date, a summary of the number of blog post mentions of the given topic and some subject areas mentioned in the blog posts in the report, a list of trending topics on Twitter, a summary of the Twitter topics, approximately five sample tweets relating to the given topic, and

the following disclaimer, “NOTE: The Social Media Report is a daily snapshot of the

blogosphere All recaps are summaries of actual comments published and in no way reflect the views and opinions of the Florida Department of Health.” An example is included as Attachment

3

Reporting – Florida Media Report

The Florida Media Report includes the date, a breakdown of the number of newspaper,

television, and web articles in the report, and the following disclaimer, “NOTE: The Media Monitoring Report is a daily capture of news stories from newspapers, news websites, and television in Florida Although all attempts are made to provide a complete picture of the news coverage of the assigned event, the purpose of the report is to provide leadership with a

consistent overview of the topical coverage related to the event within the scope of our

response.” An example is included as Attachment 4.

Analysis

As reports are developed and disseminated, the JIC lead or delegated authority will analyze the reports and issue recommendations for issues to watch, potential situations, and message strategy based on this assessment These recommendations will be shared with the Incident Command and the Director of Communications for planning and strategizing purposes

Additional Attachments:

Attachment 1: Local and U.S Traditional, Comprehensive, and Social Media Sources

Attachment 2: Sample Combined Social and Florida/Mainstream Media Report

Attachment 3: Sample Social Media Report

Attachment 4: Sample Florida Media Report

Attachment 5: Google News Trend Grid

Attachment 1: Local and U.S Media Sources Florida and National News Sources

News Stations http://newslink.org/fltele.html

ABC

Jacksonville WJXX 25 http://www.firstcoastnews.com/

Miami WPLG 10 http://www.justnews.com/index.html

Orlando WFTV 9 http://www.wftv.com/index.html

Gainesville WCJB 20 http://www.wcjb.com/

Ft Myers WZVN 26 http://www.abc-7.com/

Palm Beach WPBF 25 http://www.wpbf.com/index.html

Panama City WMBB 13 http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/

Pensacola WEAR 3 http://www.weartv.com/

Tallahassee WTXL 27 http://www.wtxl.com/

Tampa WFTS 28 http://www.abcactionnews.com/default.aspx

CBS

Ft Myers WINK 11 http://www.winknews.com/

Jacksonville WJXT 4 http://www.news4jax.com/index.html

Orlando WKMG 6 http://www.clickorlando.com/index.html

St Petersburg WTSP 10 http://www.wtsp.com/

Tallahassee WCTV 6 http://www.wctv.tv/

West Palm Beach WPEC

12 http://www.cbs12.com/

FOX

Orlando WOFL 35 http://www.myfoxorlando.com/

Marion County WOGX 51 http://www.wogx.com/

Tallahassee WTLH 49 http://www.myfoxtallahassee.com/

Tampa WTVT 13 http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/

West Palm Beach WFLX

29 http://www.wflx.com/

NBC http://www.nbc-2.com/

Jacksonville WTLV 12 http://www.firstcoastnews.com/

Miami WTVJ 6 http://www.nbcmiami.com/

Orlando WESH 2 http://www.wesh.com/index.html

Panama City WJHG 7 http://www.wjhg.com/

Tampa WFLA 8 http://www.wfla.com/

West Palm Beach WPTV

5 http://www.wptv.com/default.aspx

Original Source

ABC http://abcnews.go.com/health

CBS http://www.cbsnews.com/

CNN http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/

FOX http://www.foxnews.com/health/index.html

NPR http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=health

PBS http://www.pbs.org/search/search_results.html?q=h1n1

News Service

AP http://www.ap.org/

NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/pages/health/index.html

Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Atlanta J / C http://projects.ajc.com/search/

LA Times http://www.latimes.com/features/health/

Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/news/health/

San Fran Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/

Seattle Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/

Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/search/

Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/

Boston Globe http://www.denverpost.com/

Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/living/health/

Orlando Sentinel http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/

Tampa Tribune http://www2.tbo.com/life/health/

Jacksonville Daily News http://www.jdnews.com/

Pensacola News Journal http://search.pnj.com/

Ethnic/International

Media

Black America Web http://www.blackamericaweb.com

BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk

The Florida Star http://www.thefloridastar.com/

The Tico Times http://www.ticotimes.net/

South America Daily http://southamericadaily.com/

Hispanic News http://www.hispanic.cc/

Prensa Latina http://www.plenglish.com/

International Herald

Caribbean News Now http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/

The Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Deutsche Welle http://www.dw-world.de/

The Moscow Times http://www.themoscowtimes.com/index.php

The Daily News Egypt http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/

The Times (South Africa) http://www.timeslive.co.za/

Hindustan Times http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Comprehensive Sites

Sayfie Review www.sayfiereview.com

Capitol News Service www.flanews.com

Google Trends http://www.google.com/trends

Google News http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn

Social Media

Google Blogs http://blogsearch.google.com/?hl=en&tab=nb

Attachment 2: Sample Combined Social and Florida/Mainstream Media Report Blackberry version - Rumor Control/Media Monitoring Reports – March 21, 2011 Rumor Control Report - At this time, there are no reported rumors within the scope of this

incident

Social Media Report – Blog: Blog post mentions relating to the incident have decreased since

Friday Posts include discussions of building safer nuclear reactors instead of putting the brakes

on the U.S nuclear program

Twitter Summary: The incident is not in the Top Ten Trends this morning Tweets include more

reaction to the sights of gray smoke rising from the No 3 reactor and food contamination

World News Media Monitoring Report: The Fukushima nuclear plant is currently trending on

Google News summary Stories include how Japan is addressing the problems at the reactor site, the workers who are voluntarily being exposed to high doses of radiation in the plant to save millions, and officials in U.S and Canadian communities questioning the safety of nuclear reactors

Florida News Media Monitoring Report: 11 stories mentioning the nuclear incident in Japan -

Newspaper – 3; Radio – 1; Television – 3; Website – 4

March 19, 2011 OPINION: 'Acceptable radiation' is really an oxymoron - St Petersburg Times,

St Petersburg, FL

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/acceptable-radiation-is-really-an-oxymoron/1158247

March 18, 2011 Cancer risk from midlevel dose of radiation can depend on age, genetic

makeup; answers lacking - Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/sns-ap-us-med-radiation-cancer-risk,0,7139263.story

March 18, 2011 For Radiation, the Alarm Bells Are Boxes - Ocala.com, Ocala, FL

http://www.ocala.com/article/20110318/ZNYT04/103183018/-1/entertainment02?Title=For-Radiation-the-Alarm-Bells-Are-Boxes

March 19, 2011 Diplomat: Radiation readings low - Bradenton.com, Bradenton, FL

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/03/19/3045903/diplomat-radiation-readings-low.html#

March 20, 2011 Japan finds more types of radiation-tainted food - WSVN 7 News,

Miami, FL http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/world/21003832948215/

March 20, 2011 Japan: Radiation in milk, spinach - Bradenton.com, Bradenton, FL

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/03/20/3047126/japan-radiation-in-milk-spinach.html#

March 21, 2011 WHO warns of "serious" food radiation in disaster-hit Japan – WFSU,

Tallahassee, FL

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wfsu/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1778080/World/WHO.warns of