What You Need to Know About Presidential Crisis Management

The recent South Korea’s political corruption and presidential scandal which sees the country’s first female president Park Geun-hye impeached, first started at Ewha Womans University over the scandal of alleged favoritism towards her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil. However, amidst this political crisis, the Blue House (executive office and official residence of the South Korean head of State) remained silent despite the public’s outcry. After the local TV station JTBC started reporting on the scandal, it aroused the public’s curiosity further and even when the sound of disapproval compounded by the media and public intensified, the Blue House continued to not face the music and failed to demonstrate transparency in providing information and a clear stand of the president’s office. All these wrong decisions have thus led to the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened over Twitter to cancel a Boeing order for a new Air Force One as the deal worth US$4 billion, was way beyond the budget.

The tweet immediately hit the headlines all around the globe, and the total value of Boeing’s shares plunged to US$1.5 billion at the open of trading that day.

The company responded swiftly through PR Newswire within a few hours, clarifying that it was fulfilling a US$170 million initial contract, whose aim was to assess the military aircraft’s capability in accommodating the unique needs of the U.S. president. It hoped to continue working with the U.S. Air Force, to deliver the best presidential planes at the best value of U.S. taxpayers.

The press release published by PR Newswire was placed at the top of Google’s corporate announcement search results on Google News Timeline. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and BBC all cited PR Newswire’s story in their follow-up reports on Boeing’s statement. Boeing’s share price rallied shortly after the press release, and surged over 10 percent in the next three trading days, its market capitalization was on track to hit new an all-time high.

The newsworthiness of such news is obvious. Aside from the reason behind Trump’s tweet on Boeing, the status of the two parties involved in the story is intriguing. One of them is the 45^th U.S. President, who is also a billionaire tycoon; and the other is a public corporation. Despite its prominence as one of the Fortune Global 500 corporations, Boeing finds itself at a disadvantage when dealing with the “most powerful man in the world”. As the U.S. President, Trump has tens of millions of followers on Twitter, and whatever he says or does will invariably become the focus of global public opinion.

The incident first broke out in the social media domain, but Boeing did not respond to Trump’s remarks through social media alone. Instead, it released an official press statement to the public through the media at once, so its voice was heard to a maximum extent leveraging the influence of media organizations. The statement is seen as an “accommodating” response by the U.S. media. It is short but effective, neither cringing nor arrogant, which helped Boeing win back the support from the media and public.

This presidential crisis management illustrates one key fact.  No one is doomed to play the underdog when it comes to the all-powerful public opinions, and no media organizations can be absolutely biased or unbiased. For the presidents and the companies alike, when confronted with a PR crisis, the key is to make swift, active and transparent responses, where sincere communication is of critical importance. In doing so, one must pinpoint precisely where the field of public opinions impacted most by the crisis within the shortest time possible. The respond should be well targeted, and hit the bull’s-eye with one shot.

Most breaking news and rumors break out on social media sites such as Twitter, Weibo and WeChat. Whenever a breaking news or a rumor becomes a hotspot in the eyes of the public, the entire information dissemination process is catalyzed by media coverage, interpretation and follow-up reports. During the process, the focus of public opinions gradually shifts from social media to the mass media channels, through which the general public can be directly influenced. This is where the “agenda-setting” function of the media plays a significant role in shaping people’s perception, sentiment, attitude and actions. The mass media is regarded as a more authoritative source of information than social media, and more powerful in terms of diffusing information among people.

With a closer look, we realize that whenever a newsworthy event or news occurs, most people use online search engines to find out what actually happened. This means that social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Weibo or WeChat – the original source of the news – now becomes a closed field of opinions, relative to search engines and the mass media, as official voices can be easily distorted or drowned out by rumors and other noises on social media sites.

How should a company respond to a PR crisis? There is no easy answer to the question – that is for sure, but neither is it extremely complicated. Speed of response, attitude and sincerity are the factors that matter the most in crisis management. Secondly, selection of the communication channels through which the company responds to the crisis is also very important. Social media may not be a suitable channel for crisis management. The key is to pinpoint precisely where the field of public opinions impacted most by the crisis, and engage relevant parties in constructive dialogues as soon as possible.

You never know when the next crisis comes. If, unfortunately, you get involved in a PR crisis, never attempt to deceive or mislead the general public. As proved in numerous cases, good luck will be on your side as long as you respond actively and face up to the consequences with a strong sense of responsibility. It always works, even if you are confronted by the president!

How should a company respond to crisis communications? Download our latest Hong Kong Media Coffee and Singapore Media Coffee videos where we invited veteran journalists, media professionals and public relations consultants to share their knowledge and expertise.

This blog post was originally written in Chinese by Lynn Liu, Senior Manager of Audience Development and Distribution Services based in Beijing. The original Chinese blog post can be viewed here.