Donna DiGiacomo
Business Communications
Knowing Your Audience Paper and Communication Release
On August 5, 2010, in San Jose, Chile a small copper mine owned by the MINERA company suffered a collapse. The mine that had collapsed trapped 33 miners underground. The miners were trapped 300 meters below ground; no one had any idea if they could even survive with limited food, water, and oxygen. After four days of being trapped no one still had any idea if anyone was still alive. After 18 days, it was confirmed with written messages and via a cell phone passed through small holes that were made, that all 33 miners were still alive, hungry but alive (Weik, 2010). After 69 long days 33 miners were rescued with each one alive, no lives were lost.
A tragedy like this one situation is always unexpected and questions are brought to the service that no one is prepared for. Questions such as, what does the employer tell the families of the miners that are trapped inside the mine? And what does the employer tell the other employers? Communications such as these must keep the audience in mind and must be handled delicately. What are some considerations to remember given the different roles and people in the audience? Some considerations a person needs to consider especially when dealing with the victim’s families and the employees are the different roles and the different people involved. If the audience is not taken into consideration when getting the message out then the communication could be lost, incomplete, or be misunderstood which could leave the audience angry and misinformed. When tragedy strikes, normally the common good in mankind comes to the aide of those who need help the most. Support is a major issue that everyone needs to look at even things such as saying a simple prayer for those people. When the Chilean mine incident happened it was a national news story. It touched people and it helped people to realize how life could possibly slip by us in an...