Catastrophic Event: Murray Wildfires

Catastrophic Event
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Catastrophic Event
The catastrophic event was the Murray Wildfires, which consumed more than 2,100 buildings and around 21,000 hectares in Alberta, Canada. The fire was very massive, consequently crippling the economy of Alberta and made it come to a standstill. There was a case of insurers with problems of compensation because the majority of the buildings affected did not comply with the established procedures. Additionally, insurance companies found it too difficult to handle the issue of compensation for the buildings that had been burned down (Stevens, 2018). For a long time, there had been no such massive fire tragedy that affected Canada as previous fires did not affect the economy as it happened in Alberta. Many people were left homeless, buildings burned down, businesses closed, and wild animals lacked a place to reside because forests were destroyed.
Communication Strategy
The communication strategy used by the Financial Post was direct communication. This is a form of communication where reporters sent reports to the editor in chief before it was published for public consumption. Reporters experienced difficulties in releasing the information to the people. Additionally, the media house also relied on information from external sources, particularly members of the public who had been affected by the tragedy. It was difficult for Financial Post reporters because they were not able to access certain areas affected by wildfires (Stevens, 2018). There was also conflicting information coming from members of the public.
With news coming streaming faster, merged with the public demand for information, editors had limited time to verify the information. Editors believed that information received from reporters was true, and no further validation was required. It is, however, essential to note that there were inconsistencies in the way reporters got their information. The media house was also involved in tweeting information sourced from people on the ground. Such kind of information was not the right because members of the public gave information based on emotions (Woodcock & Johnson, 2019). At certain times, the Financial Post had to pull down tweets perceived to contain wrong information.
The direct communication used by the Financial Post was compromised as communication was aimed to be given in a particular manner. Some believed the information was supposed to be in a certain way. It can be said that editors in the newsroom were not working on their own as the information they gave out was not balanced. Certain business people did not want the information to go out that their businesses had been burned down because it would bring cause problems to people that had invested in them (Woodcock & Johnson, 2019). Therefore, it was evident that the direct form of giving information was not given in a well-balanced way.
Was the Communication Strategy and Effective Approach?
There is no doubt that the kind of communication strategy that was used was not an effective one. The Financial Post failed in giving information in a balanced way. Moreover, the information that was coming out was not that balanced, and that led to the media's house not being in a position to give the right kind of information to the public. There are communication challenges that were witnessed as it is seen below that led to the ineffectiveness of the direct form of communication. Lack of a plan was one of the challenges that were witnessed as the Financial Post was giving its information.
The news media did not have an elaborate plan on the ways that it was supposed to offer information to the public. There were no people to authenticate the information that was coming from the ground. The editors in the newsroom did their part well, but it would have been ideal if there would have been other people checking on the authenticity of the information (Carter & Hurst, 2019). When the target of communication is a diverse one, it is essential to note that there should be a plan of giving information in a planned manner.
Lack of understanding of the audience and their...