Comparison
CDC's six CERC principles, explained
October 11, 2026 · 4 min read
CDC’s Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework rests on six principles: be first, be right, be credible, express empathy, promote action, and show respect. They’re set out in the CERC manual’s introduction (2018 update), which describes CERC as an evidence-based framework for anyone who communicates on behalf of an organization responding to a public health emergency. CDC says it draws on psychological and communication science, research in issues management, and lessons from past emergency responses.
The six principles in CDC’s words
| Principle | CDC’s definition |
|---|---|
| Be First | “Crises are time-sensitive. Communicating information quickly is crucial. For members of the public, the first source of information often becomes the preferred source.” |
| 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.” |
| Be Credible | “Honesty and truthfulness should not be compromised during crises.” |
| Express Empathy | “Crises create harm, and the suffering should be acknowledged in words. Addressing what people are feeling, and the challenges they face, builds trust and rapport.” |
| Promote Action | “Giving people meaningful things to do calms anxiety, helps restore order, and promotes some sense of control.” |
| Show Respect | “Respectful communication is particularly important when people feel vulnerable. Respectful communication promotes cooperation and rapport.” |
At personal scale
CERC was written for agencies talking to the public. The versions below, for a family table, a team meeting or a group chat, are an adaptation, not CDC guidance.
Be First
Personal version: Send the short true message now. “Dad’s in the ER. He’s stable. More after the doctor comes by.” Whoever speaks first in the family chat tends to set the frame everyone else reacts to.
How it fails: Waiting for certainty. By the time the careful version arrives, people have filled the gap themselves, and the update has to argue with their guesses.
Be Right
Personal version: Keep what you know apart from what you’re guessing, and label each. CDC’s three parts (known, not known, being done) fit in three sentences: “The scan found a mass. Nobody knows what kind yet. The biopsy is Tuesday.”
How it fails: Rounding up to sound reassuring. “It’s probably nothing” becomes a debt you pay the day it’s something.
Be Credible
Personal version: You get to choose the words and the timing. You don’t get to change the facts, even out of kindness.
How it fails: The protective half-truth. Children, coworkers and aging parents often find out, and what they learn next is that your updates need checking.
Express Empathy
Personal version: Say the hard part before the logistics. In a team meeting that’s one sentence ahead of the plan: “This is unsettling, and it’s a lot to take in at once.”
How it fails: Going straight to the plan. A fear nobody acknowledged tends to come back as questions, in the meeting and after it.
Promote Action
Personal version: Give each person one small job that matters: the pharmacy run, the call to the insurer, the update to the cousins.
How it fails: Doing everything yourself. It feels like protecting people, and it leaves them nothing to do but worry.
Show Respect
Personal version: Talk to frightened people as people who can handle real information. Ask what they’ve heard, and what worries them most, before you correct any of it.
How it fails: “Calm down.” “You’re overreacting.” Even when the fear is bigger than the risk, the fix is better information. A verdict on the person who’s scared isn’t a fix.
Which ones travel best
Promote Action and Show Respect cross over almost unchanged. Both are about how frightened people get treated, and that doesn’t depend on the size of the room. The first three shift. An agency has to earn a hearing from strangers; at a family table or in your own team, you already have one. There, being first, right and credible is less about winning trust than about keeping the trust you walked in with.
For the order to use them in, with the sentences to say, see How to talk to your family or team when everyone is scared.
Related: Grace Under Fire. The parent essay on what to say in a crisis, from either side of it.
From the essay:Read the full piece →
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