How do you deal with the media?

There are a number of issues you need to deal with when fraud is discovered. One of those is how do you deal with the media. The following are suggestions on issues that need to be considered:

• The first thing you need to consider, and pre-plan for, is the potential risk to your organisation of media attention, should it become publich that it has suffered a fraud. For example, a charity is likely to be at a higher risk as funds it relies on are from public donations and it would therefore potentially make newsworthy reading.
• The organisation then needs to be prepared. Does the organisation have a media policy? If yes, part of that policy should be who has authority to speak to the media. This person should be the person authorised to speak to the media if enquiries are made about the fraud. It also needs to be determined who authorises what can be said to the media.
• The organisation needs to consider how they will address the issue if they are contacted by the media. It is the reputation of the organisation that is at risk if a report that is not favourable to the organisation is published.