Public Information Management
Director’s Guideline for Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups [DGL14/13]
Public information management (PIM) is a key part of a successful emergency response. It aims to give the lead agency what has been described as the "authoritative voice". If the lead agency does not achieve that, then there are plenty of unofficial commentators who will fill the vacuum with potentially disastrous consequences.
The Ministry first published PIM guidelines in 2007 and this 2013 edition is a complete rewrite of that earlier work. Much has changed since 2007, particularly with the proliferation of online information and news sources, and people's ability to access that information pretty well anywhere, any time.
Our country has also experienced its first national emergency, the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Lessons from Christchurch have been included in this guideline, including ensuring information is accessible by people with disabilities, and by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
Reading through the guide will give a thorough overview of PIM. It is also intended that sections can be picked out and used on their own as required. Each section might not fit your specific needs exactly but it will give you the information and a template or structure to meet your organisation's needs. And it aims to do that in a way that is consistent across all our organisations so we can easily support each other.
Templates and checklists
These templates and checklists from the appendices of the Public information management Director's Guideline are provided in Word version so they can be amended and used by PIM personnel.
PIM Readiness checklist (.docx 42kb)
PIM Response checklist (.docx 44kb)
PIM Response procedure (.docx 39kb)
PIM Summary for the action plan (.docx 36kb)
Reference documents
These reference documents from the appendices of the Public information management Director's Guideline are provided in accessible PDF and Word versions so they can be used as stand alone documents by CDEM personnel.
Information accessibility (.pdf 124KB)
Information accessibility (.docx 51KB)
Information prompts (.pdf 27KB)
Information prompts (.docx 32KB)
PIM Recommended equipment and supplies (.pdf 31KB)
PIM Recommended equipment and supplies (.docx 32KB)
Request for broadcast/termination (.pdf 27KB)
Request for broadcast/termination (.docx 33KB)
Possible PIM roles and descriptions (.pdf 29KB)
Possible PIM roles and descriptions (.docx 33KB)