The Aftermath of the Tree of Life Shooting –

The team at Markowitz Communications was selected by the Jewish Federation and Tree of Life Synagogue to assist in the aftermath of the largest anti-Semitic attack in American history that took place on Oct. 27, 2018. We collaborated with Veritas Communication Partners by sharing responsibilities ranging from fielding inquiries for interviews, speaking engagements, coaching congregational leaders, writing talking points, scripts, managing schedules, and even assisting in training ambassadors to assist in addressing the tremendous outpouring of support for the global community.

Community Engagement & Outcomes
Our objectives and game plan soon became very clear that the Tree of Life brand that had become known around the world was to focus first and foremost on the families of victims and survivors. A positive but empathetic profile had been created. There were no bad stories, just many of them representing the interests of various groups. The goals were to respond same day, sometimes in the same hour of an inquiry, and with common messages. More than 700 media inquiries, and hundreds more from government and civic leaders, elected officials and faith groups from around the world intersected with the Tree of Life team. Coordination of all activities became essential with various Rabbis, along with volunteer Board members.

From creating updates for internal communications, content for online communication, external media relations and Our communications team became an anchor for Tree of Life as the community grieved. Importantly, and unfortunately, over the course of the next year, Tree of Life was a sought-after central player in the subsequent mass shootings that took place across America and around the world. In addition, there was daily vigilance about media inquiries, triaging interviews, fact-checking and interview preparation. Our collective role with reporters and producers was overwhelming, on point and timely, and treating every inquiry with respect and deference. At critical junctures, including the one-year commemoration, our strategy included building media events for efficiency reasons on behalf of both the press and 25 individuals they wanted to interview.

Managing the flood of media and all other inquiries was a formidable challenge that was met with much engagement and success. It’s not over yet, as more chapters remain in the journey of the aftermath of the Tree of Life massacre. Two years later, we commemorate and remember this atrocity as the community continues to grieve and participate in the justice component of this matter and the ongoing stories about the victims and all those who played a role in the community’s recovery efforts. The Tree of Life organization and others continue to include the communications team from the past year in ongoing media and outreach efforts. Our team, as the prevailing message became known, is also “stronger than hate.”

Representing Tree of Life to the world has been both professionally enriching and personally satisfying—for the entire Crisis Communications Team. From working with the talented team of eight Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to assisting local broadcast outlets with their respective special programming and orchestrating and coordinating the interviewees and segments for CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes, this team effectively managed the interests of the press and the collaboration between producers, on-air talent and members of the Pittsburgh community.

In particular, the 60 Minutes inquiry was challenging from the outside as it required us to convince people close to the atrocity to participate as they were still grieving and in pain, and frankly, not very trusting that 60 Minutes approach would focus on the healing.

We engaged closely with the producers and interacted for nearly six months on everything from designing the questions that would be asked to selecting interviewees and locations for producing the segment. This engaged and negotiated approach resulted in a meaningful and trusting process that brought everyone necessary to the studio for the segment that was staged at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. The segment aired on Sunday, October 20, 2019, one week prior to the one-year commemoration of the massacre. This story is still in progress.