Crisis Management

As we all know, crisis contingency planning is an extremely important aspect of Public Relations yet it can be a fine line between ensuring a company acts ethically and honestly in a crisis, or presenting an image of acting ethically, when the reverse may be true.

Last week I was permitted to attend crisis planning with one of the worlds largest oil and gas companys. In light of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico many company's are ensuring their crisis planning is up to scratch. Going into the meeting i was very cynical of what the company would actually be planning, despite learning the ethics of crisis planning at University, I assumed in the real world crisis planning largely revolved around what not to say, rather than what to say. Yet i was pleasantly surprised by issues and tactics discussed at the meeting.

The main focus of the meeting was discussing a proposal to have outlines of media kits drawn up for journalists. The kits would just need the relevant information filled out in light of a crisis. These kits would include fact sheets on the relevant assets of the company, as well as photos and a media release. They are to be handed out to all relevant media at the first press conference and will provide them with a broad range of information. The consultants followed Eugene Szwajkoski's theory that "Honest disclosure breeds control of information, behaviour, empowerment... and trust" and discussed the importance of open and honest communication between the company and the media, as well as ensuring there is an ongoing flow of information that will continuously provide journalists' with newsworthy information. They even had a list of things that a company's representative should never do in a crisis, such as lieing, trying to shift the blame or avoiding questions.

Othere topics evaluated during the meeting included; setting up a 'ghost' website that would become live in the event of a crisis, creating phonelines for the media, and when and where to hold media conferences.

All in all the experience of attending the meeting was enlightening as it was extremely promising to see the consultants emphasising the importance of honest, two-way, fast communication with the media, rather than brainstorming ways in which to prevent information getting to the media.