I Heart NIU
Inside Higher Ed ran an article on Monday that differentiated the coverage of Northern Illinois University and other campus shootings, trying to find the differentiator between NIU’s coverage and the reportings of Louisiana Technical College’s Baton Rouge and Virginia Tech’s campus tragedies. For me, the difference was NIU’s ability to influence the message and flow of information after the shooting. Their response time was commendable and the resultant media coverage of the incident illustrated their ability to spread facts and dispel rumors quickly.
I continue to recommend that the keys to a blind crisis website include: its ability to activate instantly; the site addresses the institution’s key audiences; it include facts, statements, press releases, updates that are archived – hourly in some cases, daily in others; the website provides links to contact proper authorities for more information; and the text and links provide information as deemed advantageous. NIU hit each of these elements with its crisis site.
I encourage you to visit their site and take a screen shot of their layout, resources and hyperlinks. I think the layout and content should be the gold standard for information provided online during a crisis. Their site has been able to walk the line between sharing information and allowing for grieving. That’s not easily done, and especially not easily done well.