what kind of situation exists with hazardous materials and the problems that 

 can happen with illegal disposal sites, such as this particular one, media 

 representatives developed a lot of interest in that problem. It received a 

 lot of air time. When you talk about air time, you usually can relate it 

 along with the advertising concept. We have a national problem with 

 hazardous wastes and their disposal. We wanted to talk about the problems of 

 disposing of hazardous wastes to let people know exactly what problems do 

 exist. If we bought advertising time, 1 minute on network television news 

 would probably cost $150,000; however, a 3-minute news spot is totally free. 



So when you have the opportunity to constructively use the media to get 

 your message across, do not be afraid to do so. If you want to promote such 

 things as stronger regulations that your agency may be pushing, get it out in 

 the open, talk to the press, express a need for more regulations when talking 

 to them. Say, "Yes, we have a problem with hazardous wastes. If it were 

 oil we would have more money to clean it up. However, at this point in time 

 there is no legislation that allows access to the pollution fund to clean up 

 hazardous wastes. So we are borrowing from our operational funds to do a 

 halfway job." If you explain the situation in detail then you communicate 

 to the media that a problem actually does exist and that something needs to 

 be done about it. That message in turn is communicated in the papers and on 

 national television. Being out of Washington I can assure you that when 

 something is on network news, the next morning some action happens in those 

 offices that have been stagnant for 6 months. Things get done very, very 

 quickly. 



Also, you can use the media to contact those people who are directly 

 affected by a pollution incident. If the incident does not merit national 

 attention or have three television crews on the scene all day, it may deserve 

 one or two columns in the daily newspaper. The incident may affect several 

 hundred people quite significantly. If their property is being damaged by 

 oil or if the area they live in is being affected, they become upset. 



There are two additional ways to reach people other than through the 

 media. One would be through individual contacts. Publicize the telephone 

 number of the command post. Make it yery clear to people that if they have 

 any problems they should contact the OSC and the command post, because they 

 should get the information they need firsthand. They should not rely on 

 secondhand information because it may be inaccurate. If people have problems, 

 they should contact the OSC or his Public Information Officer and get 

 accurate information. It is very important to maintain some level of in- 

 dividual contact while on a spill. 



I recall reading a case analysis of the NEPCO 140 and its associated 

 public information problems. After the case, officials tried to determine 

 exactly how the population of that area received its information. Approxi- 

 mately 80 percent of the information about the spill was passed by word-of- 

 mouth. People did not rely on television or newspapers but on other people 

 who went down to the scene to see what was going on, or talked with the 

 people who were cleaning up, or talked with other residents who had been 



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