Ryan Moorer
BCOM/275
5/21/2013
Bettie Brown
On August 5, 2010 the world watched as reports came in from Chile, a small copper mine caved-in leaving 33 mine workers trapped underground (Weik, 2010). Initial reports did not know if there were any survivors. It was 17 days before any contact was made with the trapped miners (Hughes, 2010). The family members and the rest of the world were relieved to know that all of the miners had survived the collapse. The mine officials in this terrible disaster had much to consider when addressing the many audiences connected to this disaster. The family members, the media, and the mine employees would all have to be addresd in different ways. The family members would be the number one priority concerning communicating with the different audiences involved with this incident. The ethos from the elements of persuasion should be used when addressing the potential needs of the family. To start this process, a person would need to know the demographic composition of the family members, for example; the age, gender, race, religious believes, financial status, and ethnicity. The person communicating with the family should show competence, empathy, and honesty. Simply put one should be trustworthy and compassionate. The person communicating with the family members should also realize that each family needs may be different. Some families may need financial assistance, whereas others may need spiritual counseling to cope with the incident. Keeping the families updated with the most current information will be key threw out the incident. The families will need to know the person communicating with them is competent and honest. One should gather the most recent information from a credible source when updating the families concerning the incident.
Empathy should be the biggest thing a person shows the family members, they will need this most of all. The family should know that someone cares
References: Weik, J. (2010). Over 30 workers trapped after Chilean Copper mine collapse. Metal Bulletin Daily, Issue 224,p65-65, 1p Hughes, H. (2010). 33 Trapped Chilean Miners Found Alive, But Could Be Stuck 4 Months. Retrieved from http://www.abcnews.go.com Doa, J., Newman, M. (2006). False Report of 12 Survivors Was Result of Miscommunications. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com