Crisis Communication: The CDC's Six CERC Principles for Leaders

When something goes badly wrong, what leaders say can reduce harm or make it worse. The CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) manual makes this point directly: the content, form and timing of crisis communication can help reduce and contain harm, or make the situation worse.

CERC was built for public health emergencies, but its lessons apply to any organization that has to speak to frightened people under time pressure. The CDC says its CERC program helps "health communicators, emergency responders, and leaders of organizations communicate effectively about risks during emergencies."

This guide walks through the six CERC principles, what the manual says about how people take in information during a crisis, and how to turn both into messages your employees, customers and community can act on.

The six CERC principles

The CERC manual's introduction lists six principles of effective emergency and risk communication. Here they are, with the manual's own short explanation of each:

1. Be First. Crises are time-sensitive, and "the first source of information often becomes the preferred source."
2. Be Right. "Accuracy establishes credibility." Information can include what is known, what is not known and what is being done to fill in the gaps.
3. Be Credible. Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises.
4. Express Empathy. Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words.
5. Promote Action. Giving people meaningful things to do calms anxiety, helps restore order and promotes some sense of control.
6. Show Respect. Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable.

Notice the tension between the first two. Being first pushes you to speak early; being right pushes you to wait. CERC's answer is to speak early about what you have confirmed, be honest about what you have not, and update as you learn more.

How people process information in a crisis

The CERC chapter on the psychology of a crisis describes four ways people tend to handle information under stress:

• We simplify messages. Under intense stress we may miss nuances, not fully hear information and remember less than usual.
• We hold on to current beliefs. Changing beliefs during an emergency is hard, and people may read unclear messages as confirming what they already think.
• We look for additional information and opinions. People want messages confirmed before acting, so they check other channels, call friends and family, or turn to a trusted local leader.
• We believe the first message. In the absence of information, people speculate, and the first message to reach them may become the accepted one.

The manual's conclusion is that crisis messages should be simple, credible and consistent, and that speed matters. It adds that an effective message should be repeated, come from multiple credible sources, be specific to the emergency and offer a positive course of action people can carry out.

Writing messages people can act on

The CERC chapter on messages and audiences offers practical rules for first messages:

• Keep it concise. Include only immediately relevant information, skip the long background, and avoid jargon.
• Repeat the main message. Repetition helps people remember when anxiety shortens memory.
• Phrase actions positively when you can. "Boil drinking water" works better than "do not drink the water," because words like no and not are easily missed.
• Give action steps in threes or fours. The manual notes that in an emergency, the number of directions people can hold drops to only three simple directions.
• Use personal pronouns, such as "we are committed to," to make the message personal and credible.
• Respect people's fears. Say something like "It is normal to feel anxious in times like this" rather than anything condescending.
• Avoid humor, and remember that live microphones and phones can capture unguarded moments.

On credibility, the same chapter advises getting facts right before release, updating quickly when facts change, and stating "what you know, what you don't know, and what you are doing to find out more." It also warns that inconsistent messages increase anxiety and undermine credibility, so everyone speaking for your organization needs the same facts.

For example, imagine a regional food distributor that learns a product may be contaminated. A CERC-shaped first message might say: "We are recalling Lot 2214 of our bagged salad because it may be contaminated. If you have it, do not eat it. Throw it away or return it to the store for a refund. We are working with health officials and will post an update on our website by noon tomorrow." It is short, it gives two or three clear actions, and it promises a next update. In a case like this, the negative "do not eat it" is the clearest instruction, which the manual allows for when a positive phrasing would be unclear.

Matching messages to the phase of the crisis

CERC describes a communication rhythm with four phases, and each calls for different messages:

• Preparation: draft and test messages, develop partnerships, create plans and decide your approval process.
• Initial: express empathy, explain risks, promote action and describe response efforts.
• Maintenance: explain ongoing risks, segment audiences, provide background information and address rumors.
• Resolution: motivate vigilance, discuss lessons learned and revise your plan.

The preparation phase is where most organizations fall short. CERC stresses deciding ahead of time who must approve information and in what order, so approvals don't stall urgent messages. Ready.gov's guidance for businesses makes a similar point: messages can be pre-scripted as templates with blanks to fill in when an incident happens, approved by management in advance and stored where they can be reached remotely.

Know your audiences

Ready.gov notes that many audiences will want information during and after an incident, each with its own needs. Its list of possible audiences includes employees, customers, suppliers, management, and government officials and regulators. It recommends compiling contact information for each group in advance, keeping it updated and secured, and deciding ahead of time who will speak to the media.

Start with your own people. If employees learn about a crisis from the news or social media before they hear from you, your later messages start at a disadvantage. A brief internal note sent before or alongside any public statement shows respect and gives them accurate facts to repeat.

Choosing and preparing a spokesperson

CERC recommends selecting and training spokespersons before an emergency. They should be respected leaders with knowledge of the situation, and everything they say should be consistent with the organization's other messaging. The manual adds that repeated practice is the best way to prepare for tough questions.

For leaders who are not communications experts, the CDC offers a half-day CERC for Leaders training aimed at emergency response leaders, along with the online CERC manual and a series of webinars.

Key takeaways

• CERC's six principles are be first, be right, be credible, express empathy, promote action and show respect.
• Under stress, people simplify, hold on to beliefs, seek confirmation and tend to believe the first message they hear.
• Keep messages short, repeated and consistent, with three or so clear, positively phrased actions.
• Say what you know, what you don't know and what you are doing to find out more; never speculate.
• Do the hard work in advance: approval process, message templates, audience contact lists and a trained spokesperson.

Sources

• CDC, CERC: Introduction (2018 update)
• CDC, CERC: Psychology of a Crisis (2019 update)
• CDC, CERC: Messages and Audiences (2018 update)
• CDC, Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) program page (July 28, 2025)
• Ready.gov (U.S. Department of Homeland Security), Crisis Communications Plans