121112 ALR PR Workshop Crisis Communications Fodder for LaTonya Taylor’s Wheaton College Communications Class

Principles and Rogues Gallery of ALRC Client Crisis Communications

RECENT · Large Church in DFW Metroplex; o Next weekend being picketed by Westboro Baptist for false prophecy o This past week a local investigative reporter demanded an on-camera interview with the pastor after receiving an anonymous package in the mail; countered by giving a transparent interview with another station pegged to a ministry milestone. · Florida Megachurch – o Just before Thanksgiving, helped a church navigate a tragic situation after they became aware of a youth minister involve in an inappropriate relationship with a teen in the youth group; acted swiftly, dealt directly, and sought corporate healing. · My church in DFW o Staff reduction o Coup in Haiti while youth group on mission trip in-country · Haiti o Similar to above; Saddleback group on the group hosted a teen mission in Haiti when earthquake hit o Other orgs, involved in first shipments of medical supplies in, 300 surgeries/day; first orphans placed in DR · Rick Warren - Saddleback o Year-end appeal for financial shortfall § initial reports that church was going out of business § Reframed picture with media to understand church budgets (Salvation Army model) § Op-ed “Soup Nazi or Soup, Grazi” · Rick Warren (cont.) o Invitation to pray at Inaugural of President Obama o RW invitation to then-Senator Obama to speak at AIDS Conference o Who can forget the ubiquitous “Cone-of-Silence-gate” following the Saddleback Civil Forum during the campaigns (original CoS didn’t work.) o Other issues related to Prop 8 and the current Parliamentary action in Uganda · Other o Tragic situation of one client involving a contract worker hired through a temp agency who left a child in a vehicle on a 100-plus degree Dallas day who later died. · No Christian ministry or leader is immune from crisis, including one with the unquestioned integrity and character, such as Billy Graham: o Announcement of his Parkinsons o Nixon tapes o Numerous incidents at Billy Graham crusades through the years, including demonstrations, deaths – even births – in the crowd · SO, WHAT TO DO CRISIS SCENARIOS Crisis Description Category #1: Internal employee dissatisfaction or disagreement leads to public complaints, resulting in negative mentions on social media or in local media Crisis Description #2: Customer service issues lead to public complaints on social or local media Crisis Description #3: Agent dissatisfaction/disagreement/miscommunication leads to public complaints on social media or in local market outlets Crisis Description #4: Human resources/discrimination complaints lead to national media exposure Crisis Description #5: An agent or underwriter improperly denies coverage (either on purpose or by mistake), and the church takes the complaint to national media Crisis Description #6: A complaint about the previous denial of a same-sex affirming church resurfaces in light of the recent SCOTUS decision, reaching national media Crisis Description #7: Agent negativity attributed to BMIC, reaching social or local media Crisis Description #8: A church is legitimately declined for risk factors but assumes or claims it is discrimination and complains to national media. Crisis Description #9: A non-Christian religious group is denied and takes a religious bias claim to the national media Crisis Description #10: A church which is a BMIC client is denied a claim for legitimate reasons, but believes it is because of discrimination and takes the complaint to the national media. Crisis Description #11: A complaint is raised with local media about BMIC’s “undue” influence on local government/politics because of its stature in the community. Crisis Description #12: A moral failure within BMIC leadership leads to negative social and local or national media coverage Crisis Description #13: A moral failure within a church vetted and insured by BMIC leads to negative social and local or national media coverage Crisis Description #14: A natural disaster or religious freedom lawsuit hits multiple BMIC-insured churches at once, hurting profits and potentially leading to lower industry rankings, reported in industry media Crisis Description #15: There is an injury or an accident involving BMIC’s non-profit work, leading to potential coverage in local media Crisis Description #16: There is a tragedy leading to the death or departure of BMIC key leadership, resulting in local or national media coverage Crisis Description #17: There is a workplace violence incident at BMIC, resulting in local and national media coverage, either internal/employee-instigated, or external/terroristic-type plot Crisis Description #18: A shooting or terroristic attack on a church vetted and insured by BMIC leading to local and national media coverage Crisis Description #19: There is a data breach/cyber-attack at BMIC, compromising customer information or revealing embarrassing information to BMIC Crisis Description #20: A negative corporate outlook or customer loss leads to lower industry rankings, reported in industry media Crisis Description #21: Increased public or federal scrutiny of BMIC’s hiring practices due to historic religious perspective or complaints by employees/those seeking employment, bringing negative press or social media attention Crisis Description #22: Increased public or federal scrutiny of BMIC’s hiring practices due to historic religious perspective or complaints by employees/those seeking employment, drawing leadership into culture wars or bringing legal penalties down on BMIC NEGATIVE PUBICITY (Impact) The same factors that account for the potential of the power of positive publicity also operate to make it a formidable force in its negative form. · However, negative information has potentially greater influence on the customer when it is presented as adverse publicity. · And, because negative publicity is dominated by non-marketers, it generally enjoys higher credibility than market-dominated messages. · However, the potential for damage by negative publicity is a function of the seriousness of the problem. SLIDE 6 – CRISIS (Definition) CRISIS (Definition) According to Webster, a crisis is: A turning point for better or worse; a decisive moment; a crucial time; accentuation that has reached a critical phase. Webster’s Dictionary · Contrary to popular belief, a crisis doesn’t necessarily have to be bad, it is merely characterized by a degree of risk and uncertainty. · With proper planning, there can be a positive side to a crisis. The Chinese symbol for crisis, “Wei-ji” is a combination of two words, meaning danger and opportunity. Crisis communication concerns the second reality in any emergency -- what people think has happened, or what they perceive. There is an old PR axiom that says, “It’s not that people don’t know so much, but they know so much that ain’t so.” Crisis management is the art of removing much of the risk and uncertainty to allow an organization to have more control over its destiny, by reducing the number of unknowns and conditioning appropriate behavior. In determining an organization’s response to a crisis, it is important to assess its position relative to the problem. Is it a responder? A cause? A victim? Does it share the blame or success in handling problems with anyone else? We are not talking about manufacturing an image. Rather, we are talking about projecting an identity -- which already exists due to known credibility factors -- for both the product in question and the organization responsible for it. Response to every crisis involves a delineation of duties and responsibilities at key levels: Level 1 - Policy Making Level 2 - Design of a Strategy/Overall Command by a Crisis Management Team Level 3 - Control of the Emergency Public Relations Response Taking positive action and communicating effectively requires skillful news management, not censorship. An organization in crisis needs to avoid escalation and polarization, and rather seek accommodation with the press. The occurrence of this crisis is a springboard for positive coverage for said organization. This morning we spoke about a recent development in the area of crisis public relations is a results-oriented management function called Reputation Management. This discipline seeks to leverage corporate reputation as an asset, enlisting important stakeholder groups -- including employees, donors and media -- to assist an organization in the achievement of its strategic design and to seek to minimize the resistance of those groups to legitimate management objectives. An effective public relations plan demonstrates that an organization’s self-interests are the same as those of its various audiences, and that the organization has kept faith with those self-interests. The effectiveness of such a campaign is not measured by pounds of press clippings, but rather the extent to which the organization is able to influence public opinion and perception of the issues and elements involved. Through such a campaign, an organization can meet its communications objectives relative to the specific problem and their own identity, corporately, in the following areas: · Reduce uncertainty · Facilitate quick response and recovery · Minimize exposure, vulnerability · Improve morale among internal publics · Educate the media · Protect the ministry/organization image, credibility and operating relationships · Establish a sympathetic audience by neutralizing enemies, strengthening existing alliances and creating new alliances with neutral publics · Redirect interests in support of the organziation’s concerns Another PR axiom dictates that bad news doesn’t go away and does not get better if it is ignored. Rather, bad news often gets worse over time and stories grow bigger when reporters have to dig them out. The process of crisis communication deals with impressions and perceptions, not facts. Actually, perception is made up of emotion plus facts. Together they move people. Public relations does not create false images, rather it emphasizes positive, true images. PR can focus attention away from the negative aspects of an issue to focus on the positive, equally true aspects of an issue about which an organization is better able to communicate. According to the industry journal PR Reporter, a positive attitude instead of a siege mentality is critical to success. The job of crisis PR is not to make the public believe that bad is good. Rather, it attempts to make a solid public perception into a gray issue. Crisis PR is not a proper and above board Yale debate. Rather, it is gorilla warfare in the jungle of public opinion. Most news publications -- whether Christian or secular, newspaper or magazine -- are fundamentally a business, not a public service organization. Reporters might try to portray themselves as surrogates of the public good, but the primary purpose of a media organization is to make money by packaging news to build readership or viewership. Media often have a vested interest in catastrophic issues because they make news. Information spreads from media to media, and a sharing of news information is almost inevitable. This is particularly true in our current Internet age, where any article written becomes part of a permanent database which can fuel stories for years to come. Internal communication is vital during a period of crisis. When employee morale is up, an organization can better deal with the crisis, as employee attitudes and dispositions influence other key audiences. Employees are, in effect, the most important publics because their continued support is needed to maintain ongoing sales and ministry. Each employee is an unofficial spokesperson for the organization, exerting considerable influence among attitudes of other publics. Telling the troops the news before they read it or hear about it will in effect cause it to become old news by the time it appears in additional press reports. Facts are the foundation of good communication, but a single statement of facts will not carry the day. Rather, simple accurate messages need to be reinforced over and over through appropriate publicity, promotion and advertising vehicles. When a product or service is under attack, an organization can’t use the benefit of that product or service to mankind or a specific niche group to defend itself. It is important that an organization take the initiative, and not be forced into a reactive position. Getting in front of a potentially damaging story is the best way to manage it. At the early stages of the crisis, more important than what a spokesperson says is what he or she demonstrates -- a concern for the issue and the people involved. In so doing, representative spokespersons can never counter-attack a writer or a medium, only counter-attack misinformation Newshooks Similar to the message points previously discussed, newshooks can also be developed, which serve as the basis for news or feature story development. Targeting Messages to Audiences In addition to identifying and prioritizing appropriate publics, it is important to tailor messages to them. These include a breakdown according the following categories: < Those who must respond (activists): These include those most vocal in their criticism of the organization/product. The object here would be to contain the damage, neutralize their influence and perhaps win them over by an understanding of misrepresented facts. < Those who must comment (advocates):These include key leaders within the organization as well as those who have spoken publicly on behalf of the organization/product. Equipping them with appropriate facts and providing them with an arsenal of communication tools will enable them to factor those points into their communication. < Those with a critical need to know:These include employees, Board members and management of the organization, denominational bellcows, and other key publics such as CBA retailers, donors, academics, industry conventions, and pastors. < Christian and secular media:These include talk show radio, Internet activity, Christian magazines, CBA trade publications and local newspapers, to list a few. CRISIS COMMUNICATION According to Business magazine, negative publicity is “the non-compensated dissemination of potentially damaging information by presenting disparaging news about a product, service, business unit or individual in print or broadcasting media or by word of mouth.” There are eight characteristics of communication that every organization in crisis usually faces: 1. Character of surprise 2. Insufficient information 3. Escalating flow of events 4. Perceived loss of control 5. Intense scrutiny from the outside resulting in an abandonment of allies and decreased employee moral 6. Siege mentality sets in 7. Panic and fear influence decisions 8. Paralysis of a short-term focus The same factors that account for the potential of the power of positive publicity also operate to make it a formidable force in its negative form. However, negative information has potentially greater influence on the customer when it is presented as adverse publicity.

Because negative publicity is dominated by non-marketers, it generally enjoys higher credibility than market-dominated messages. The potential for damage by negative publicity is a function of the seriousness of the problem. Contrary to popular belief, a crisis doesn’t necessarily have to be bad, it is merely characterized by a degree of risk and uncertainty. Crisis communication concerns the second reality in any emergency -- what people think has happened, or what they perceive. There is an old PR axiom that says, “It’s not that people don’t know so much, but they know so much that ain’t so.” With proper planning, there can be a positive side to a crisis. The Chinese symbol for crisis, “Wei-ji” is a combination of two words, meaning danger and opportunity. According to Webster, a crisis is “A turning point for better or worse; a decisive moment; a crucial time; accentuation that has reached a critical phase.” Crisis management is the art of removing much of the risk and uncertainty to allow an organization to have more control over its destiny, by reducing the number of unknowns and conditioning appropriate behavior. In determining an organization’s response to a crisis, it is important to assess its position relative to the problem. Is it a responder? A cause? A victim? Does it share the blame or success in handling problems with anyone else?

We are not talking about manufacturing an image. Rather, we are talking about projecting an identity -- which already exists due to known credibility factors -- for both the product in question and the organization responsible for it. Response to every crisis involves a delineation of duties and responsibilities at key levels: Ø Level 1 - Policy Making Ø Level 2 - Design of a Strategy/Overall Command by a Crisis Management Team Ø Level 3 - Control of the Emergency Public Relations Response Taking positive action and communicating effectively requires skillful news management, not censorship. An organization in crisis needs to avoid escalation and polarization, and rather seek accommodation with the press. The occurrence of this crisis is a springboard for positive coverage for said organization. A recent development in the area of crisis public relations is a results-oriented management function called Reputation Management. This discipline seeks to leverage corporate reputation as an asset, enlisting important stakeholder groups -- including employees, donors and media -- to assist an organization in the achievement of its strategic design and to seek to minimize the resistance of those groups to legitimate management objectives.

An effective public relations plan demonstrates that an organization’s self-interests are the same as those of its various audiences, and that the organization has kept faith with those self-interests. The effectiveness of such a campaign is not measured by pounds of press clippings, but rather the extent to which the organization is able to influence public opinion and perception of the issues and elements involved. Through such a campaign, an organization can meet its communications objectives relative to the specific problem and their own identity, corporately, in the following areas: Ø Reduce uncertainty Ø Facilitate quick response and recovery Ø Minimize exposure, vulnerability Ø Improve morale among internal publics Ø Educate the media Ø Protect the ministry/organization image, credibility and operating relationships Ø Establish a sympathetic audience by neutralizing enemies, strengthening existing alliances and creating new alliances with neutral publics Ø Redirect interests in support of the organization’s concerns Another PR axiom dictates that bad news doesn’t go away and does not get better if it is ignored.

Rather, bad news often gets worse over time and stories grow bigger when reporters have to dig them out. The process of crisis communication deals with impressions and perceptions, not facts. Actually, perception is made up of emotion plus facts. Together they move people. Public relations does not create false images, rather it emphasizes positive, true images. PR can focus attention away from the negative aspects of an issue to focus on the positive, equally true aspects of an issue about which an organization is better able to communicate. According to the industry journal PR Reporter, a positive attitude instead of a siege mentality is critical to success. The job of crisis PR is not to make the public believe that bad is good. Rather, it attempts to make a solid public perception into a gray issue. Crisis PR is not a proper and above board Yale debate. Rather, it is gorilla warfare in the jungle of public opinion. Most news publications -- whether Christian or secular, newspaper or magazine -- are fundamentally a business, not a public service organization. Reporters might try to portray themselves as surrogates of the public good, but the primary purpose of a media organization is to make money by packaging news to build readership or viewership. Media often have a vested interest in catastrophic issues because they make news.

Information spreads from media to media, and a sharing of news information is almost inevitable. This is particularly true in our current Internet age, where any article written becomes part of a permanent database which can fuel stories for years to come. Internal communication is vital during a period of crisis. When employee morale is up, an organization can better deal with the crisis, as employee attitudes and dispositions influence other key audiences. Employees are, in effect, the most important publics because their continued support is needed to maintain ongoing sales and ministry. Each employee is an unofficial spokesperson for the organization, exerting considerable influence among attitudes of other publics. Telling the troops the news before they read it or hear about it will in effect cause it to become old news by the time it appears in additional press reports. Facts are the foundation of good communication, but a single statement of facts will not carry the day. Rather, simple accurate messages need to be reinforced over and over through appropriate publicity, promotion and advertising vehicles. When a product or service is under attack, an organization can’t use the benefit of that product or service to mankind or a specific niche group to defend itself.

It is important that an organization take the initiative, and not be forced into a reactive position. Getting in front of a potentially damaging story is the best way to manage it. It is imperative that all organizations involved, if there are more than one, speak with one voice, coordinating the communication process to properly represent all entities and interests. In so doing, representative spokespersons can never counter-attack a writer or a medium, only counter-attack misinformation. At the early stages of the crisis, more important than what a spokesperson says is what he demonstrates -- a concern for the issue and the people involved.

ORGANIZATION

United Front

In addressing a controversy, it is imperative that the organization(s) show a united front and speak with one voice.

Though each organization or department within an organization will have representative spokespersons who can address their parochial interests and perspectives, a communications hierarchy should be established to collectively represent the consortium.