Communication Principles and Practices Public Perception and Message Effectiveness

This project provides WERF subscribers with a state-of-knowledge report that is a synthesis of existing work and provides guidance on effective risk communication practices, public perception and message effectiveness. <div><br></div><div>Communication principles are applicable to a wide variety of potential health and environmental risks; however, the report is written with a focus on trace organic compounds. Project findings are drawn from: 1) a focused literature review of communication materials published in the environmental industry; 2) documents describing risk communication practices in other industries (nuclear energy, chemical manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry) which culminated in several “lessons learned” that are relevant to trace organic compounds; 3) coding and systematic analysis of approximately 25 recent media articles pertaining to trace organic compounds focused on vocabulary and imagery, key messages, and the articles’ likely impact on the public; and 4) interviews with water and wastewater utility representatives to better understand their existing communication and outreach programs, interaction with the public and media and perspectives on communications needs. </div><div><br></div><div>Principles described in this report can be used to convey a wide variety of messages to help municipalities better communicate with the media and public. Recommendations for utilities and ideas for future research specific to trace organic compounds are also provided.</div>