Nuria Olmos: "Every day four pieces of news are published in Madrid about the Red Cross"

The media have allowed us to receive messages at all hours of the day. Today, we live saturated with information. NGOs know that, and therefore they strive to be remembered by the recipients. With this goal they have established communication departments. To learn how the press office of an NGO works and is organized, we have interviewed Nuria Olmos, from the Red Cross in Madrid.

- How many people make up the press office of Madrid Red Cross?
- Currently we are four people: the communications director and three other people. Although we are four permanent workers, we can’t forget the work done by volunteers.

- What tasks do you carry it out?
- Well, it depends on the person (laughs). The communications director is coordinating the team. He prepares budgets, among other functions. The others have specific tasks, one has the press office and works in public relations issues. Another is responsible for the web, intranet and collaborates in the work of the press office. And the third is entrusted in the area of internal communication and image issues.

- Currently, what projects are you developing?
- The communications department has not marked projects. We are a cross-department that supports the various activities organized by other departments. For example, in Education for Development, they are developing a project that want to spread, from communication to advise them about the message we have to bring the public, the type of act to be performed by either a press conference, send a statement or to arrange media interviews, mostly by helping them to segment the population that should be addressed. In Red Cross we touch a huge number of issues, so that we can’t overwhelm people with a barrage of information about this NGO.

- How do you detect information appearing in the media about Red Cross Madrid?
- Central Red Cross has hired a company that is responsible for tracking the news about Red Cross listed in the national press. However, we note that the absence of a provincial press in Madrid, our information just has no place in Madrid supplements of national newspapers. Therefore, our firm analyzes this impact through Google alerts, since most of the newspapers in Madrid are digital.

- What is the impact on the media generated by the Red Cross?
- According to the latest impact of the information generated by the Red Cross Madrid, every day in the local press they are published about four stories. In addition, the issues that matter most are the actions we have undertaken by the current economic crisis we live in, and the advices we offer about health.

- What kind of publications do you have?
- Many (laughs). Because depending on whom we direct we use one or another. The media arrived through press releases to members via the digital newsletters and all citizens through the Web and a blog. On the domestic side of the organization we inform through the Intranet and supplements as CREACTIVE or Health Newsletter. We utilize the Internet as a means of dissemination as we have implemented a policy of 0 paper.

- As press office, how have you adapted to the Internet?
- The first thing we did was to publish most of our content via the Internet, causing more widespread due to a lower cost. In addition, we have improved our communications with donors we have in the territorial delegations that are dispersed throughout the world. Before, we had to establish a communication via satellite phones, now we are communicated through Skype.

After analyzing the work of a press office, if I ask, “What do you remember of Red Cross?”, you sure will think of enough information about this NGO. These memories are the result of the work of members of the press office who are struggling because the message of this NGO prevails in the minds of all citizens. This is part of the specialization of the reporters, that every day is gaining more prominence as NGOs, companies and other interested institutions for the public to remember anymore.