"When the Headline is You" will be among the topics discussed March 26th and 27th as part of the 2019 London Swine Conference.

In an interview with Farmscape.Ca, Jeff Ansell, a communications consultant with Jeff Ansell and Associates and the author of "When the Headline is YOU", says when news happens it's important to be ready to share your story.

Jeff explains: "Social media has had a great impact on the pork sector and other livestock sectors. It’s very important that those involved respond quickly when controversy arises because media, especially as it relates to the pork sector, are quick to form a narrative especially if we're talking about a producer whose standards are less than what they should be.

"It's important that they get their message out quickly because news travels faster these days than a chicken with the Colonel running after it. It's very important for pork producers to be prepared to interact with the media.

"If a reporter is working on a story that's crisis related about the pork industry, they're going to go interview experts, they're going to perhaps talk to consumers, they might even go to retailers and regulators. By the time they get to the pork producer they're already convinced that the pork producer has committed a terrible sin, which they may have or they may not have, but the fact is they've got to be there to help frame their narrative before others do it for them."

Ansell says people spend years building up a reputation and all it takes is a few misspoken words to destroy it so it's very important that pork producers and others in the sector have the ability to tell their story in a manner that's conducive to the media edit because, at the end of the day, any of us are only as good as our weakest quote.