The Positives and Perils of Communicating with the Public

Abstract

Abstract In today’s age of 24/7/365 news cycles, the pace, outlets and breadth of news is faster and more comprehensive than ever before. Every citizen with a cell phone is a reporter, social media is beginning to dominate traditional news sources, and time has become an even more critical factor. There is an old maxim that you don’t want to be exchanging business cards in the middle of a crisis—and in today’s world of instant communications that is valuable time lost. We have also seen the impact of poor media communications when both the Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon are featured in public relations classrooms as textbook cases of poor management (notwithstanding that the Deepwater Horizon was the largest marine spill in US history by a factor of 20 times, was politically charged, and had a continuous release with related imagery for 60+ days). The Exxon Corporation’s reputation was bound to suffer after the Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska and dumped 250,000 barrels of oil into Prince William Sound. But experts in public relations say that Exxon seriously worsened the damage to its public standing by failing to seize control of developments after the spill and establish itself as a company concerned about the problems it had caused (1). In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, people familiar with the inside of BP’s crisis control effort and outside experts say early on, BP didn’t have a public relations strategy. It failed to communicate the three key messages the public needed to hear: That BP was accountable for the disaster, was deeply concerned about the harm it caused and had a plan for what to do. Experts also agree that Hayward’s propensity to say the wrong thing made him the wrong choice to be the face of the crisis, and BP’s board took too long to figure that out. (2) In a world that is increasingly “wired”, it is imperative to address the public in a responsible, prepared, professional and comprehensive fashion. Every posting is a permanent record of the narrative, if not the events themselves. It is critical to be in control of the narrative to take advantage of positive community engagement, and avoid community backlash, which could lead to interference, or at least a distraction, from the mission at hand, which is to manage an effective response and minimize the impact on lives, the environment, and property. One of the most important, and lingering, aspects of a successful spill response is managing the public and the press. In the Deepwater Horizon, these aspects proved to be an enormous distraction to the responders, sucking valuable time and energy away from the response itself. This paper covers the importance of addressing the public, fundamentals of the maritime industry, tools for addressing crisis media management in advance of an event, as well as community building activities that companies can deploy on a regional basis which will bolster a company’s reputation in the region, as well as build a sense of trust with communities that may be affected by an incident.