Ms. Lepley admits that the Internet enables news-related rumors to spread quickly and widely, especially through social media sites. However, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for her and the VCU communications team. For one, while sites like Twitter aid the dissemination of damaging or panic-inducing rumors, they can also be used to control the hearsay. The VCU news organization boasts its own Facebook and Twitter accounts, enabling it to stay in touch with what others are saying, address concerns and misinformation and instantly connect to a wider audience. Another vital benefit is that online communications are more individualized, and therefore can be used more strategically since stories can reach the relevant audiences more directly and quickly.

 

Regardless of the emergent forms of modern news coverage, however, nothing can replace old-fashioned reporting. “Just stick to the facts,” Ms. Lepley states. “It’s all about transparency.” In the fog of war, when a story first breaks, she admits it can be difficult to gather all the facts and to separate the accurate information from the incorrect. Missteps inevitably occur from time to time, but her devotion to transparency guides her to own up to any misinformation – social media sites are especially effective for speedy corrections.

Only a minority of VCU and MCV’s news is dubbed a crisis, or what Ms. Lepley calls “issues management,” and in news, a crisis can be any pivotal event, good or bad. However, such events do occur, and when asked to recall a particularly memorable news experience at VCU, Ms. Lepley readily responds.

In October 2002, two crises occurred within just 10 days of each other. The first event transpired during the “D.C. Snipers” incident, which had the East Coast gripped in fear. MCV treated one victim of the random shootings, and his arrival prompted national media frenzy. “They were literally camped out on our doorstep,” Ms. Lepley remembers. She coped by providing updates to the press every 30 minutes on the patient’s condition.

Just days later, amid the tumult, a crisis of the “good” persuasion rocked Richmond. At 5am, a phone call roused Ms. Lepley to inform her that Dr. John Fenn, a VCU professor, was selected as the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. That same morning, a full news conference convened at the university as international attention focused in.

Ms. Lepley describes her experiences at VCU as dynamic and rewarding. One Richmond resident sent an e-mail to thank her for the informational and sensitive coverage of the sniper victim, and she has kept the e-mail as a warm reminder to always maintain perspective and remember the human element of news coverage.

“I wouldn’t trade this job for anything,” she states. “It has been a joy to watch VCU grow not only in infrastructure, but also in stature and its offerings.” As an alumnus of VCU and an adjunct professor, Ms. Lepley’s devotion to the university and MCV allows her to deliver news to its internal and external community with both a personal and professional sense of its unique needs.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

TURN THE PAGE