Breaking Bad News

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Breaking Bad News

By: Doug Bedell

Nobody likes to break bad news, but, as a PR person, if you don't do it carefully and calmly, or advise your client on being forthright and responsive, you'll make the situation worse. On Ragan's PR Daily, Christina Miranda, of Redpoint Marketing PR, provides five pointers on breaking bad news as effectively as possible.

We especially like "get to the point," and "avoid misdirection and trickery." Also, be mindful that emails and social media greatly increase the circulation speed of outrage, so insure that your client is collected and graceful in making an unwelcome announcement.

Being forthcoming about breaking bad news keeps corporate or personal character issues out of the picture.

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About the Author

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.

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