Though the charities you represent are held to the highest standards of governance, sometimes things go wrong.

For the charitable sector, bad news issues could include administrative costs, executive competence, questionable use of funds, or sexual harassment, which is now reported in the news on a daily basis.

In each of these situations, donors, media and the general public are quick to make up their mind about your organization.

I teach people how to answer difficult questions from reporters and more than once I have been asked – “Why anyone would need media training if all they had to do is tell the truth.”

Well, after interviewing thousands of people as a reporter and after media training thousands of people, I can tell you that when the headline is you, the truth is not good enough.

Truth and perspective have become casualties of a media that does its research on the run while it writes history in a hurry.

Often, if the story about your charity happens to be accurate, it’s a happy coincidence.

The problem in part, is that with newsroom cutbacks, reporters are having to do more with less. And because they have to do more with less, they look for the easiest way possible to tell controversial stories.

The way they do it, is by stereotyping. It’s almost as if Steven Spielberg is in newsrooms across the country, casting tonight’s 6 o’clock news.

Let’s say for instance that your organization is in the news, because of allegations of sexual harassment.

The first character the reporter needs to tell the story, is the character I call the Victim.

That would be the person hurt as the result of an alleged action.

The next character reporters look for is the Villain, who could either be the individual accused or the organization they represent.

With a Victim and Villain in place, the reporter needs to seek out a Hero – someone to ride in and save the day.

If there is no obvious Hero in a story, the reporter will take that role herself.

Then there’s the Witness, who saw the abuse happening.

The witness could be fellow employees.

Another character is the Expert, and they’ll talk about the proper way to manage and address these matters.

And my favorite character of all when I was a reporter is the cast member I refer to as the Village Idiot.

The Village Idiot is the one who caused the problem or took the problem you had and made it worse.

In efforts to be expedient, reporters are known to combine two roles in one - mainly the villain and the village idiot.

By combining the two roles reporters have one less interview to do and now have time for a quick sandwich at Subway.

When journalists apply this boilerplate approach to reporting, the result is a story that not only writes itself, but also has a compelling narrative vilifying your organization.

So you need a narrative of your own – your story within the story.

You need a narrative that reflects your acknowledgement of the problem at hand and your desire for a solution.

You see, in the event your charity is the subject of a bad news story, it is possible to avoid being the Villain and Village Idiot.

To do that, it comes down to asking yourself a very simple question when bad news strikes. The question is “Lawyers and accountants aside, what’s the right thing to do?”

If a wrong-doing has transpired or people have been hurt in some way, then you need to be amongst those most upset, outraged and disturbed.

You’ve got to demonstrate that when bad news happens, no one cares more than you.

The fact is, your stakeholders don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. <

Jeff Ansell & Associates offers presentation, media and crisis communications training programs for C-suite leaders, executives, managers and spokespeople. Coaching is conducted for clients on-site, as well as in Jeff's Toronto studio and online. Jeff is an internationally renowned communications trainer, bestselling media communications author, and lecturer on Leadership Presence, Duke University. His book When the Headline Is YOU: An Insider’s Guide to Handling the Media has been an Amazon PR bestseller and is on the curriculum of many universities and colleges. You can reach Jeff at ja@jeffansell.com