Subterranean Media Training

By Eric Seidel, CEO

The Media Trainers, LLC

Fascinating how people find creative ways to respond to unusual challenges. In our last post here we suggested that active psychological assistance would be required for Chilean mining officials and families of the trapped miners in dealing with the press.

But, of course, reporters want access to the miners themselves and they’re getting it. First, however, the miners are getting media training. That report today from Australian outlet news.com.au.

And how about that buried miner who has both a wife and mistress waiting for his rescue. I wonder what his message possibly could be. He may be the only one of the 33 miners who’s not particularly anxious to come topside!

Honest Communication Is Not Optional

By Eric Seidel, CEO
The Media Trainers®

Cyber space is bloated with articles, blogs, video and audio criticizing and condemning businesses and their leaders, helping to form negative impressions. Online examples are easy to find:

The people at the top in general are the subject of a recent blog post entitled The Demonization of Corporate Executives.

A major air carrier, often its own worst enemy as pointed out in this space earlier this year (United’s PR Goes Down in Flames), is the subject of even stronger criticism in the blog of Forbes contributor and marketing expert Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research Group. He does not mince words in this post: United Airlines' 3 greatest flaws.

When a passenger-filled JetBlue sat on a frozen tarmac for hours on end, the blogosphere went ballistic. One site defaced the JetBlue logo and its promise.

And, in the current angry environment over bailouts, when AIG chose to dish out millions in “bonuses,” the backlash was long, loud and predictable, as noted in this post: Why AIG is Getting Such a Bitter Reaction.

Executives complain they don’t know how to deal with it all. They actually do. It really comes down to wanting to. As pointed out in United Airlines' 3 greatest flaws, the airline’s statements about customer care rang hollow. They were only words, unsupported by the actions of management and employees.

Communication, first and foremost, is critical. Today’s CEO has got to be able to communicate effectively and honestly to a bevy of constituencies. What you say—promise—and how you follow through will answer the question of How Is Your Company Being Perceived?

This era of new media is a double-edged sword. Use it honestly, openly and authentically to protect your name and reputation.

Ignore it at your peril.

The Internet and the Rules for Handling a Crisis

The Internet presents businesses and organizations in crisis with many new challenges and lessons. Chief among them is that you cannot afford to be an absentee participant when it comes to crisis communications.

That lesson comes through loud and clear in the TVA’s pre-Christmas coal sludge spill in eastern Tennessee. The extent of the flood of gook and the issues and concerns that remain unresolved demand a continued presence by a representative of senior management, on or near the scene and providing regular updates. Yet, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore apparently has managed only two appearances thus far, at a briefing shortly after the containment pool was breached, and then a community meeting a couple of days after Christmas (1st video below). Otherwise, the few bit parts TVA played in media reports were handled by spokespersons and management from the Kingston Power Plant, source of the sludge. Title and media access at a fixed location would’ve afforded a senior manager more of a role in news stories.

In the interim, real and self-appointed environmentalists and some agents of fear were allowed to dominate either through mainstream media or online. On youtube.com, for example, you can find a number of videos. Some are actual news stories from “mainstream” media. But the “library” of videos also includes amateur “reports” that can leave very damaging impressions.

For instance, the nine minute video (2nd video below), apparently of two men in a car confronting a sheriff’s deputy at a road block. They say they want to go through in order to deliver printed warnings and advisories to residents along the river about the potential dangers to their drinking water. They talk about people who have become ill from the water. But, they offer no facts, only rumors and conjecture. In fact, they are not even from the area. They claim they’re from Indiana. We don’t even see them until one makes an on-camera appearance late in the video. (His image is reminiscent of a character from the movie Deliverance, and I’m not referring to Burt Reynolds and friends in the rafting party. On looks, alone, this guy is not someone you would immediately rely on for help or information.)

Cyberspace represents a playing field without boundaries or ground rules. And, while legitimate journalists and others who are guided by a sense of ethics and balance participate, so, too, do many, many others who can “report” without being edited or controlled in any way. Indeed, even the bonafide media give access to anyone with a camera. For instance, CNN’s iReport.com includes this disclaimer: “iReport.com is a user-generated site. That means the stories submitted by users are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only stories marked ‘On CNN’ have been vetted for use in CNN news coverage.”

It appears TVA treated this as a local story that, unlike the pool of sludge, could be contained. But nothing is local any longer. The Internet has guaranteed that. Plus, this spill led a number of national newscasts shortly after it happened.

You need to take ownership of the crisis in representing your organization. The news media always will chase third party and eye witness comments. Those elements can leave lasting, damaging and incorrect impressions. There’s no question that this sludge spill is a major story and the long-term effects remain to be seen. But TVA’s low level participation has allowed the prominence of many damaging impressions, real or perceived, that may never be fully erased by an industry that can ill afford them.

TVA Management Took a Holiday

www.themediatrainers.com

While residents of Harriman, TN, spent the Christmas holiday digging out from several feet of coal ash and sludge, TVA’s senior management was on holiday and apparently unavailable.

Management’s absence once the media reached the scene and started feeding back startling pictures and in-depth stories left huge opportunities for dominant roles by environmental critics and angry, dislocated residents.

This was a lesson in how not to handle a crisis. Basic steps seemingly were either abandoned, or never even considered. They certainly have not been evident.

After a press conference by TVA CEO Tom Kilgore earlier in the week, the giant government-owned utility was represented in news stories by an apparently midlevel spokesmen and clean up crew members. Environmental critics and those living through this nightmare “own” media news stories. For instance, on the morning after Christmas story on NBC’s Today Show (click on video at bottom).

Did TVA establish a command center for regular media updates? Hard to say, but the evidence indicates the Authority did not. With a crisis this large, why wasn’t a senior management representative on scene throughout to provide updates? Did TVA recognize just how big a story this is, especially during a major holiday? As a significant coal consumer, and with a much more environmental-friendly Congress and administration braced to take control of Washington, what, if any, thought was given to the ramifications of this story and the need to maintain a primary role in news reports?

Residents swamped by the goo lost their Christmas and some even lost their homes. All are concerned about the long term environmental and health effects. Early assurances that tests indicate no threats are qualified and more tests are promised. When they hear about things like mercury and arsenic, they are alarmed. And the future threat this sludge has on the drinking water of tens of thousands still is unclear.

TVA's apologies and preliminary reports on tests of the sludge don't do much. Harriman residents and all TVA customers needed to see and hear from senior management on a regular basis, from the scene.

Meanwhile, the energy industry’s controversial case for coal as a fuel for electric generation has been dealt a serious blow. TVA’s low level and low key participation in this situation has handed new ammunition to the arguments of environmentalists opposed to coal in any form and might strengthen their case for a renewables-only portfolio.