A narrative crisis is not the same as the underlying incident. The incident happens once; the narrative about it keeps moving, across platforms and languages, for days. This playbook sets out what a communications team should do in the first hour, the first day and the review that follows, with the emphasis on facts, approvals and a record that will hold.
Before anything happens
Most crisis mistakes are made in the first hour and most of them are preventable in advance. Agree who can approve a public statement, at what level and how fast. Write down the holding lines for the scenarios you can foresee. Register the subjects you would need to watch, in the languages your public uses, so that switching on crisis tracking is a matter of minutes rather than a scramble. Decide which channels you will respond on and who owns each.
The first hour: establish the facts
The first hour is for understanding, not for speaking. Establish what is actually being said, by whom, where and in which language. Separate the underlying facts from the claims being made about them. Identify the first appearance of the story and its main amplifiers, and note whether the push looks organic or coordinated. Write this down in a short read that the whole response team works from: three paragraphs, evidence linked, updated every thirty minutes.
Issue a holding statement only if silence will itself become the story. When you do, use the approved line, through the official channel, once. Do not argue in replies.
The first day: track the narrative, not just the incident
Through the first day, watch how the story moves. A crisis typically starts on social, crosses into news within hours and returns to social as commentary on the coverage. Public video, transcribed, often carries the quote that defines the story. Track the specific claims, not the overall volume: which claims are gaining ground, which have been answered and which are new. Update the written read at each stakeholder briefing so that leadership, legal, regulators and partners are reading the same picture.
Responding: draft from facts, approve by name
Every response should be drafted from approved facts and pass through the approval chain you agreed before the crisis. This is not bureaucracy; it is the difference between a statement you can defend and one you will have to retract. A response desk that drafts from your own positions and routes each draft to a named approver, with a record of the decision, lets you respond in minutes without losing control.
Rumours and false claims
Trace before you rebut. Find the first appearance of the claim and its spread path. If the claim is small and contained, a rebuttal may amplify it. If it is spreading, correct it once, factually, from the official channel, and preserve the evidence of both the claim and the correction. Keep a running list of claims and their status so that nobody on the team answers a question that has already been settled.
Regions and languages
A crisis rarely plays the same way everywhere. A story that is fading nationally may be intensifying in one region or in one language community. Look at the picture by region and by language every few hours, and brief regional spokespeople with what their public is actually saying rather than the national line.
The review
When it is over, the record matters. Assemble the evidence: the posts, the transcripts, the timeline, the claims and the responses, with sources and timestamps preserved as captured. A hashed evidence pack with a chain-of-custody record lets the board, the regulator or the court see exactly what was known and when. Review the decisions against the record honestly. Most crises repeat; the review is where you get faster for the next one.
The one-page version
- Before: approvals agreed, holding lines written, subjects registered in every language.
- First hour: establish facts, identify source and amplifiers, write the read, speak only if silence is worse.
- First day: track claims, not volume; brief every stakeholder from one read; look by region and language.
- Responding: draft from approved facts, approve by name, record the decision.
- After: preserve evidence with provenance, review honestly, update the playbook.