Using Public Relations to Handle Crisis Situations

The U.S. Army has had many issues to address in the post 9-11 world. In looking at some of the more well known crises they’ve faced, we can see how the effective use of public relations can make a major impact on public perception. There was no shortage of poor public relations practices during the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu-Ghraib prison in Iraq.

By mishandling this crisis the Army demonstrated exactly what not to do, especially when the stakes are so high. They set themselves up for failure from day one by having no crisis management plan. The underlying theme in their problem was a lack of accountability and truthfulness with the American public. Inability to address the problem in a timely manner as well as a shoddy information flow has caused the Army its largest black eye since the war on terror began.

Though the Army is still far from scandal free, it has learned from its past mistakes. Through the use of public relations they have been able to turn a potential matching black eye into an opportunity for improvement. Stories about substandard living conditions at the Army’s Walter Reed Veteran’s Hospital have flooded the news in recent weeks. Instead of pointing fingers and trying to place blame elsewhere, the Army was quick to take responsibility for the problem. By recognizing that a problem exists and explaining why, they can request additional resources to solve the problem.

This approach facilitates the need for a new proactive public relation campaign that can be used to document the Army’s willingness to care for its veterans. Keeping the flow of information open and accurate will go a long way in serving the American public’s demands for up to the minute information.

Public relations practices can’t always put an immediate end to negative publicity, but it can reduce the chances of a bad situation snowballing into a worse situation.

If it bleeds, it leads

What happened to the local news media? I know that they are on my side, first, fast, and accurate and that I can trust them because they tell me so. Is the obsession for super local reporting the product of cable news or the proliferation of the Internet?

Also, they can pinpoint a gnat on an elephant’s backside with their Doppler 20 Million XR accu-weather tracker, but still can’t resist continually breaking into regular programming or overlaying their graphics over programming anytime a storm reaches East Egypt.

Photo courtesy of here.

Sports coverage is shoddy at best and more often incomplete. It’s often been said that Cincinnati is a baseball town, but given the coverage outside of the Reds, you wouldn’t know that other teams play in MLB.

If it bleeds, it leads. While there are plenty of tragic events in the tri-state region, if there is a “slow news day” they often reach for a relevant tie to someone’s brother, whose uncle saw Ferris Bueller at the local Sip n’ Gulp and report this to us.

What is often missing is the news. Numerous local corporations, non-profit organizations and individuals inundate the newsrooms with media advisories, press releases and general news tips, but more often than not, they go uncovered.

Newspapers have a great capability to address more “newsworthy” content, but often take a pass as well. The vast majority of coverage is allotted to high profile companies and individuals. But, the vast majority of our region’s economy is grown by small businesses.

Again with the sports thing, I just can’t understand how baseball games played in the Central or even Eastern time zones get listed as night games when the results of Monday Night Football gets reported the next day.

I’ve found that reruns of The Simpsons and blogs are more informative and entertaining than the local “news” and unless something changes, I think more people will feel the way I do.