Knowing Your Audience
Natalie Lobherr
XBCOM275
March 9, 2013
Knowing Your Audience
When a company informs staff of information it is important to know its audience, especially in a disaster like with the Chilean copper mine in South America. A collapse of one of the shafts happened on Thursday, August 5, 2010. The Chilean Copper mine life 33 workers trapped approximately 300 meters underground. Rescue efforts began immediately but just two days later another collapse put a hold on the efforts to rescue the crews for many hours. The company would need to take into consideration how to inform employees and friends and family would be notified of this great disaster. If not done properly, the company could put its self in worse light. It is imperative that the representatives of the company who issues updates and iuformation to the public know their audience well. The audience that the company would be reporting to would be made up of the news correspondence, the victim’s families, and the media. Not only would the company representative have to keep the prestige and point of view of the mining company in one piece, they would have to issue precise and straightforward information that would not always be in the greatest interest of the company’s standing. The collapse would not oonlt have emotional impact on the 33 miners trapped underground, the family members of those miners would be distressed as well. The family members of those 33 men would have to wait in suffering before they would receive word of their family member’s fate. When a disaster occurs, the company has the obligation to keep the family members knowledgeable every step of the rescue process, above the news and media. Even though in the beginning the company may not have much information, it is essential for them to informed loved ones with as much information as soon as possible.
A face-to-face meeting is the best method to deliver the message to the family and the...