11.15.00
ISSN:1528-3836
© 2000 Jonathan Bernstein
JUST A THOUGHT
Treat the media as you would any other watchdog. Stay calm, be friendly, let them sniff your hand and never turn your back.
(Anonymous)
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Committing Too Quickly
Just how carefully have you conducted due diligence prior to proceeding with a business deal, run a thorough background check before hiring an
employee in a sensitive position, or considered the long-term public and community relations aspects of any significant business decision?
Sometimes the press of business and desire for profit motivates us to take short-cuts which later come back to bite us. Skeletons are uncovered,
employees turn out to have criminal records we didn't know about, or our customers lash back at us for a decision we thought they'd like -- without asking them first.
Of course, I get a lot of my business that way -- but you'll need me and your attorneys less if you do your pre-decision homework better.
MANAGE THIS!
The following case history is an amalgam of real-life situations with which I've been acquainted. The object is to demonstrate the "wrong way" and the
"right way" to manage citizen concern about a corporate mistake.
The Situation
Zelon Manufacturing (a pseudonym) sailed through its local permitting process in Indiana, largely thanks to the reputation of its parent company in
another state. Shortly after start-up of operations, however, area residents began to notice, and question, what they considered to be unusually dense
plumes of smoke from the site's stacks, and an unpleasant odor downwind, resulting in negative media coverage. Local environmental officials
investigated and found that Zelon had installed equipment that was larger and more powerful than those originally specified and, in general, had
added to, or modified, quite a bit of the manufacturing process since receiving its permit. It had also failed to apply for the necessary permit
revisions. Zelon was told to reduce production by 50% pending completion of the State investigation and a public hearing set for months later.
The Wrong Way
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When Zelon was first called by residents, their senior management played "hot potato" with the callers, most of them claiming theywere
the wrong person to speak with. They had no internal PR person. When an exec did comment, he would deny that anything was wrong, and no one at the company notified even their own outside
counsel of the inquiries. Internal discussion was that "these were just local crackpots who would go away." One of the "crackpots" then called the local press.
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The media, when calling in to Zelon, was ignored at first, resulting in a highly critical story which concluded that "Zelon executives refused
to return calls." Then the plant manager called the paper's publisher and yelled at him, claiming that there were gross inaccuracies in the coverage. This yielded predictable results.
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Internal discussion centered around their awareness that they had, quite deliberately, made changes in the manufacturing process which,
they thought, didn't require further permitting, based on what had been done in other states. A decision made without outside expert opinion.
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Zelon showed up at the first public hearing armed with "the facts," to be met by hundreds of angry local residents who insisted on
testifying. Zelon's responses to their comments and questions was to provide strictly factual answers, as if the situation was a criminal trial.
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Zelon met with years of skeptical responses from regulators, judges and the general public before being allowed to return to re-permitted full operation.
The Right Way
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When Zelon was first called by concerned citizens, the plant manager immediately invited the callers for a site tour. Before they came over,
he huddled with legal and PR counsel to get some good key messages and be warned away from saying anything which could put the company at legal risk. Citizens visited and outlined their concerns,
which the plant manager promised to investigate immediately. Satisfied for the moment, the visiting citizens did not call the media.
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Zelon's internal investigation revealed that they may, in fact, have screwed up by failing to get the new equipment and processes re-permitted.
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Zelon huddled with legal and PR counsel and agreed to publicly inform area citizens, the media and regulators, simultaneously, of their error and their desire to rectify the situation.
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The company, giving regulators a couple of hours private notice, invited local media over for a briefing on their entire process at which
they revealed "news" that they had made a mistake which they were going to rectify immediately -- and that, in the meantime, they were
voluntarily cutting back production 25% until all were satisfied that emissions were still within safe limits and were properly permitted. The concerned citizens who had first contacted them were invited to
the press conference and publicly thanked.
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They all lived happily ever after.
Yes, I'm afraid the "Right Way" scenario is a lot further from the alities with which I've worked than the "Wrong Way," but then I'm usually not called
until the fire's already burning pretty hot. It's still a rare organization that calls for help when an issue first surfaces.
CRISIS MANAGER ON THE SPOT
Q: Is email an effective way to reach your important audiences during crises?
CM: It depends on the audience. Contact lists which are part of a crisis communications plan should have the *most effective* means of rapidly
contacting each person on the lists, as well as back-up means of contacting each. Typical lists include media contacts, community contacts, business
contacts and governmental contacts, but any given organization may have other important contact categories as well. Some people may be best
reached by phone, some by email, some by fax, and the "best way" could vary depending on time of day. For example, the most reliable way of
always reaching me is by my pager, which can be activated from my business voicemail. Email would be the second best way to reach me.
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES
"Crisis Manager" now has more than 1,000 subscribers and a high "pass along" readership. It is also reprinted by a number of PR firms for
redistribution to their clients. We will accept tasteful advertising from firms whose credentials will first be investigated. We are starting to look at the
possibility of long-term sponsors for the newsletter. We also accept short text-based ads in the newsletter and on the website. Research demonstrates that readers click through from text much quicker than from
banners, and text-based referrals are higher quality leads. Ad rates and specs available on request -- if interested, write to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.
LINKS
(Have a newsletter and/or website and want to exchange links? Let's talk about it! Write to jonathan@bernsteincrisismanagement.com.)
These sites have proven valuable to my business and may do the same for yours.
About.com - Public Relations is a one-stop resource for public relations, corporate and marketing communications, and business people with 24
subject categories and more than 1200 direct links to content for PR & communications professionals plus chat, newsletter and more. Go to http://publicrelations.about.com.
"Media Insider" is a free service for the public relations community hosted by PR Newswire and ProfNet, its online resource linking reporters with
expert sources. Updated daily with contributions from members, Insider reports on the people and new technologies behind the production of news. Go to http://www.mediainsider.com.
The PR Network provides a means for exchanging ideas and business improvement tips between PR professionals. They're at http://www.theprnetwork.com and their newsletter can be subscribed to by
sending email to nprn-main@oaknetpub.com with the word "subscribe" in the BODY of the email.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
All information contained herein is obtained by Jonathan Bernstein from sources believed by Jonathan Bernstein to be accurate and reliable.
Because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, neither Jonathan Bernstein nor Bernstein Crisis Management is responsible for any errors or omissions. All information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Bernstein Crisis Management and Jonathan Bernstein make no representations and disclaim all express, implied, and statutory warranties of any kind to the user and/or any third party including, without limitation, warranties as to accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose.
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OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF
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