Wanted interview subjects: how is social media affecting the fire service
Published: 16 June, 2011
Fire and Rescue is looking for interview subjects for an article in Fire and Rescue on how social media is affecting response during large emergencies! Ex-head of Journalism for BBC, Nigel Kay, is a crisis communications consultant, who reported on the Hillsborough Tragedy and the 7/7 bombings. He is now looking to speak to firefighters who are engaged in social media, and who want to talk about this. If you are interested, please get in touch with Ann-Marie Knegt at am.knegt@hgluk.com
The brief: The article is based on incident reports which illustrate the challenges posed by social media: ie speed of response, public expectation, information management and reputation. It will then continue to discuss the opportunities that social media can provide for emergency responders. In particular the ability to connect directly with your community leading to improvements in education, communications, information management and reputation. We will also look at some of the most important platforms, including of course Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The author: Nigel Kay was a BBC journalist for 30 years. When he left the Corporation to start his own consultancy, he was Head of Journalism Development, responsible for the training and development of 3000 journalists across the UK. He helped coordinate coverage of some of the biggest domestic stories, including the Hillsborough Stadium tragedy, the Grand Hotel bombing and the London bombings of 2005. Nigel is an experienced radio and television interviewer. As presenter of North of Westminster and Let the People Talk on BBC TWO, he interviewed Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and a host of other leading political figures. Nigel is an experienced public speaker. He has represented the BBC on public platforms across Europe and at the United Nations. Since 2006 Nigel Kay has been advising governments, local authorities and businesses on communications strategy and media relations. He’s an Associate Lecturer at the Emergency Planning College, where he writes and presents crisis communications training courses.
