There has recently been many public incidences which seems to have become a big issue because of lack of crisis management skills in Japan: an administrative vice-minister of the treasury has left his office for sexual harassment; the mayor of Niigata prefecture resigned because of prostitution; and the parliament is discussing endless issues about fake testimonies and documents. In all of the cases, they have poorly responded to the media and made the problem bigger and bigger..... until they completely lost control.
So, what are the basic rules of thumb in responding to a crisis. Some tips for managing the media in a crisis situation from "Crisis, Issues and Reputation Management: A Handbook for PR and Communications Professionals (Andrew Griffin, 2014)" is as below.
Setting Objectives & Devising Strategy
- Communications must start immediately (do NOT wait for information).
- A vacuum of information from the organization at the centre of the storm sends the wrong message. It will create perception of mistrust and incompetence.
Content & Message
- Three C's in developing crisis messages in early phases are:
- Care and concern for those affected
- Control of the situation
- Commitment to resolving the problem
- Bear in mind the key things in any communication: audience, message, medium.
- The messages must be based on proven action, and must move on. Good crisis communication can buy time, but cannot alone save reputation. Action is central.
Spokesperson Role
- A company in crisis needs to have a spokesperson .
- The company in crisis should leave itself room for manoeuvre in choosing the spokesperson. Going in too quickly with the most senior person, unless it is a major catastrophe from the outset, may make it difficult for them to take a back seat as the crisis develops.
Managing the Volume of Mainstream Media Interest
- A media response team may be useful in dealing with endless questions and calls etc from the media. This will work well for incident-led crisis, but may be less suitable for issue-led crisis.
- Social media rarely come up as a subject for strategic consideration, but they do require tactical management.
Looks quite simple, but it is probably hard to carry out in reality. Facebook has been criticized in handling the Cambridge Analytica incidence in the early faze mainly for violating the simple rules of thumb shown above.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-bc-us--facebook-crisis-management-20180321-story.html
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/311311