Lessons From Katrina: Crisis Communication And Rhetorical Protocol

Abstract

Widely misunderstood and often maligned, rhetoric in the simplest sense is the effective use of language in speech or writing.  Much as law and medicine have well considered standards of conduct, so too does the field of communication.  Experts in this area look at “patterns” of discourse in relation to specific kinds of events – tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires, airline or mining disasters, for example. Close study of such phenomenon reveals which communication approaches to crisis are successful and which are not. As a profession, rhetoricians study the structure and consequences of communication events.  Applying rhetorical analysis to situations as significant in scope as Katrina allows us to determine what business, media, and government can learn from that unprecedented day in the Summer of 2005.  This paper concludes with a practical communication model, (R.E.S.P.O.N.D.), which can be applied in any crisis situation real or anticipated.