Crisis communication and terrorism: the Norway attacks on 22 July 2011

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Falkheimer

Purpose – The aim of this paper is two-fold: to describe and to consider the implications of the synthesis between terrorism, the media and strategic communication, using the Norway attacks as an example; and to describe and analyze the challenges and execution of crisis communication during and after the Norwegian attacks. Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on earlier research and secondary data (an extensive assessment made by the Norwegian police authority in 2012), as well as a minor media analysis focusing on representation of the perpetrator. An interview with two high-ranking communication officials working for the crisis management coordination secretariat in Norway has served as supplementary material. Findings – The crisis challenged the linear process of standard planning and information transmission. The terrorist attacks in Norway and how they were framed, especially before the perpetrator was identified, are linked to a global discourse on terrorists, and demonstrate the need for developing specific terrorism crisis communication theory. The news media coverage gave the perpetrator and his political messages publicity, but more as a lone disturbed individual, associated with school shootings more than with terrorism. There is a need for increased knowledge about terrorism as strategic communication or public relations. The variety among stakeholders and the increased possibilities for terrorists to control and plan their communications in have implications during all phases of a crisis. New strategies and tactics that oppose and defeat the terrorist's communication goals must be developed. Originality/value – The article views terrorism from a communication perspective and develops important questions about the relationship between terrorism, media, strategic communication and crisis communication.

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Siano ◽  
Maria Palazzo

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role ingredient branding (IB) plays in shaping the strategic communications created by public relations/corporate communication departments of large organizations when managing crises. Design/methodology/approach – Starting from a literature review on strategic communication and IB the role of this activity is studied within the Italian context. In order to reach the aim of the paper, primary and secondary sources were exploited generating qualitative and quantitative data. The primary data were gathered though in-depth interviews with key management personnel while the secondary data were sourced from reports made available by Tetra Pak Italy. Findings – The study confirmed the contribution of the strategic proactive role played by Tetra Pak Italy managers of External Relations and Marketing Departments and the communication agency manager during a challenging period of crisis for the company. The main implication of the paper lies in the analysis of the important strategic work implemented by the external consultant of communication together with the External Relations and Marketing managers as members of the dominant coalition. Originality/value – The paper analyses a Tetra Pak Italy case study, as an exploratory case that could demonstrate how strategic communication – based on an IB campaign – is of fundamental importance during a period of crisis. Moreover, the research studied how proactive and effective the role played by the communication consultant and managers of External Relations and Marketing Departments was as a determinant of resulting outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Barbe ◽  
Lori Pennington-Gray

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the crisis communication strategies implemented by hotel and lodging organizations via social media. Specifically, this study analyzed Twitter content by hotels in Orlando, Florida during the summer of 2016 when several crises occurred that made global media coverage, including the alligator snatching on Disney property, the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub and growing concerns of Zika virus. Design/methodology/approach To understand crisis communication in the hotel industry, this study was guided by the technology-environment-organization framework and situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). Twitter content between June 1 and August 31, 2016 from Orlando hotels was collected and content analyzed to determine: was the message related to the crisis event, the SCCT strategy used and the influence of hotel organizational factors (ownership, size, classification) on the use of social media for crisis communication. Findings Results indicate that most hotels are not currently using Twitter as a form of crisis communication. Only the shooting at Pulse Nightclub was communicated and the SCCT bolster strategy was used throughout each of the crisis-related message, reminding stakeholders that they too are a victim. Originality/value This study provides insight into the ways hotels are using social media for crisis communication. Each crisis explored was different, and while the hotels were not responsible for creating the crises, they are responsible for the safety of guests. These results inform hoteliers that there is a responsibility to communicate during a crisis, particularly for informative purposes.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Jing Wen ◽  
Jo-Yun Li ◽  
Baobao Song

PurposeThis study situates in the context of Chipotle's food safety issue and seeks to understand how their primary customers perceive their crisis response messages after learning of the outbreaks. The current study incorporates the framework of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT; Coombs, 2007) and public segmentation model (Rawlins, 2006) to understand the effectiveness of crisis response messages. It aims to examine the role of public segmentation in situational crisis communication and investigate the effects of three crisis response strategies according to SCCT on different public segments.Design/methodology/approachThe SCCT provides guidelines for understanding the effectiveness of different crisis response strategies. The current study showcases the importance of public segmentation in the SCCT model through the lens of stakeholder theory. A 3 (crisis response strategy: deny, diminish, rebuild) × 4 (public segment: advocate, dormant, adversarial, apathetic) factorial experiment was conducted.FindingsThe findings suggest that advocate public expressed more positive evaluation about the company when exposed to rebuild and deny strategies. Both dormant and adversarial stakeholders reported positive responses on rebuild and diminish strategies. However, no difference was found among apathetic public.Originality/valueThe researchers attempt to make a modest contribution in this direction by reporting results from an empirical experiment that examined the effects of crisis response strategies on different public segments. The findings suggest an effective message tailoring approach to target different public segments. Thus, the results of this study are expected to benefit relevant corporations and public relations practitioners.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-298
Author(s):  
Daniel Vogler

PurposeThis study analyzed the effects of the visibility and evaluation of universities in news media coverage on the development of their private and public third-party funds.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the concept of media reputation to investigate the effects of news media coverage on the outcome of funding decisions by firm managers and scientific experts. Extensive news media data from 2011 to 2017, collected with manual content analysis, were combined with economic data on Swiss universities.FindingsThe results show that a more positive evaluation in the news media leads to the positive development of private, but not public, third-party funding. Surprisingly, visibility in the news media has a negative effect on private third-party funding.Research limitations/implicationsThe effects of media reputation are dependent on the stakeholders under review. However, this study's design does not yield evidence on direct causal effects. Further studies could, therefore, use surveys to analyze the decision-making processes of individuals regarding their relative dependency on news media consumption.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates that positive evaluation in the news media represents an asset for universities when striving for more private third-party funding. Public relations (PR) activities aimed at the news media, therefore, can help universities attract additional funding.Social implicationsThe paper shows that in a digitized media environment, the news media still represent an important source for information about scientific organizations.Originality/valueThe study was the first to analyze the effects of media reputation on the third-party funding of universities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Julia Richardson ◽  
Charlotte M. Karam ◽  
Fida Afiouni

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue about the “Impact of the Global Refugee Crisis on the Career Ecosystem” and summarise the key contributions of the included practitioner and scholarly papers which examine refugee business and labour market experiences. The paper also examines the impact of media reports to provide a broader understanding of the context within which the current refugee crisis is evolving. Design/methodology/approach The authors begin with a delineation of the concept of a career ecosystem in the context of refugee crises. The authors then employ this framing as a backdrop to engage in a basic analysis of business media coverage of the most recent Syrian refugee crisis, and a summary of the practitioner and scholarly papers. Findings The findings of the media analysis suggest major coverage differences between different groups of countries in the number of documents identified, the proposed aim of business engagement with refugees, and substance of the extracted statements generally. Research limitations/implications The analysis of business media coverage is rudimentary and intended only as a prompt for further conversations about how contemporary media commentary impacts on career opportunities for refugees and relevant stakeholder practices. Practical implications This paper demonstrates the importance of including broader considerations of refugee careers that explore the interaction and intersection with transnational and local ecosystem of labour markets while paying attention to the sociocultural and political refugee-host community dynamics. Originality/value This paper presents a more systems-oriented perspective and provides both practice and scholarly perspectives on the composite and dynamic nature of the refugee crisis on career ecosystems more broadly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Wulan Muhariani

ABSTRACTSomething new from the company, whether it is innovations, policies and the latest achievements from the company, should ideally be communicated and marketed to the public under any circumstances, including during a pandemic. At this time, all companies are challenged to market their products and services, a special strategy is needed to achieve the company's goals. For this reason, this study aims to analyze the implementation of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) activities carried out by PT Blue Bird Tbk in introducing the company's latest innovation, namely the My Bluebird 5 application during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted qualitatively with a case study method and data collection was divided into two, namely primary through interviews and observations; as well as secondary data through literature studies and media coverage results. The conclusion of this research is that PT Blue Bird Tbk has implemented an integrated marketing communication concept to introduce the My Blue Bird 5 application in the midst of a pandemic through various tactics such as from advertising, public relations, internet marketing, sales promotion and direct marketing activities.Keywords: Marketing Communications, Integrated Marketing Communication, Pandemic  ABSTRAKSesuatu yang baru dari perusahaan, entah itu inovasi, kebijakan dan pencapaian terbaru dari perusahaan, idealnya harus dikomunikasikan dan dipasarkan kepada masyarakat dalam kondisi apapun, termasuk di masa pandemi. Pada masa ini, semua perusahaan mendapat tantangan untuk memasarkan produk dan jasanya, dibutuhkan strategi khusus agar tujuan perusahaan tercapai. Untuk itu penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis penerapan aktivitas Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) yang dilakukan oleh PT Blue Bird Tbk dalam memperkenalkan inovasi terbaru perusahaan, yaitu aplikasi My Bluebird 5 di masa pandemi COVID-19. Penelitian ini dijalankan secara kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus dan pengumpulan data terbagi menjadi dua yaitu primer melalui wawancara dan observasi; serta data sekunder melalui studi pustaka dan hasil liputan media. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah PT Blue Bird Tbk telah menerapkan konsep komunikasi pemasasaran terpadu untuk memperkenalkan aplikasi My Bluebird 5 di tengah masa pandemi melalui berbagai macam taktik mulai dari kegiatan periklanan, public relations, pemasaran internet, promosi penjualan dan pemasaran langsung.Kata Kunci: Marketing Communications, Integrated Marketing Communication, Pandemi


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benny Nuriely ◽  
Moti Gigi ◽  
Yuval Gozansky

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the ways socio-economic issues are represented in mainstream news media and how it is consumed, understood and interpreted by Israeli young adults (YAs). It examines how mainstream media uses neo-liberal discourse, and the ways YAs internalize this ethic, while simultaneously finding ways to overcome its limitations. Design/methodology/approach This was a mixed methods study. First, it undertook content analysis of the most popular Israeli mainstream news media among YAs: the online news site Ynet and the TV Channel 2 news. Second, the authors undertook semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 Israeli YAs. The analysis is based on an online survey of 600 young Israelis, aged 18–35 years. Findings Most YAs did not perceive mainstream media as enabling a reliable understanding of the issues important to them. The content analysis revealed that self-representation of YAs is rare, and that their issues were explained, and even resolved, by older adults. Furthermore, most of YAs' problems in mainstream news media were presented using a neo-liberal perspective. Finally, from the interviews, the authors learned that YAs did not find information that could help them deal with their most pressing economic and social issue, in the content offered by mainstream media. For most of them, social media overcomes these shortcomings. Originality/value Contrary to research that has explored YAs’ consumerism of new media outlets, this article explores how YAs in Israel are constructed in the media, as well as the way in which YAs understand mainstream and new social media coverage of the issues most important to them. Using media content analysis and interviews, the authors found that Young Adults tend to be ambivalent toward media coverage. They understand the lack of media information: most of them know that they do not learn enough from the media. This acknowledgment accompanies their tendency to internalize the neo-liberal logic and conservative Israeli national culture, in which class and economic redistribution are largely overlooked. Mainstream news media uses neo-liberal discourse, and young adults internalize this logic, while simultaneously finding ways to overcome the limitations this discourse offers. They do so by turning to social media, mainly Facebook. Consequently, their behavior maintains the logic of the market, while also developing new social relations, enabled by social media.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2046147X2110551
Author(s):  
Deborah K Williams ◽  
Catherine J Archer ◽  
Lauren O’Mahony

The ideological differences between animal activists and primary producers are long-standing, existing long before the advent of social media with its widespread communicative capabilities. Primary producers have continued to rely on traditional media channels to promote their products. In contrast, animal activists have increasingly adopted livestreaming on social media platforms and ‘direct action’ protest tactics to garner widespread public and media attention while promoting vegetarianism/veganism, highlighting issues in animal agriculture and disrupting the notion of the ‘happy farm animal’. This paper uses a case study approach to discuss the events that unfolded when direct action animal activists came into conflict with Western Australian farmers and businesses in 2019. The conflict resulted in increased news reporting, front-page coverage from mainstream press, arrests and parliamentary law changes. This case study explores how the activists’ strategic communication activities, which included livestreaming their direct actions and other social media tactics, were portrayed by one major Australian media outlet and the farmers’ interest groups’ reactions to them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Ma

PurposeA well-accepted proposition in the literature of corporate strategic communication and public relations is that consumer-brand relationships (CBRs) affect corporate crisis communication. However, it is inconclusive whether CBRs protect or work against brands, because both buffering effects and love-becomes-hate effects have been found. This study attempts to explain and bridge the seemingly inconsistent findings by clarifying the effects of different types of CBRs in different brand transgressions.Design/methodology/approachRe-conceptualizing CBRs into non-identifying relationships and identifying relationships, this study examined the possible interaction effects of CBRs and crises on consumers' attitudes and emotions, which then influence their behavioral intentions. A three-step multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data collected from an online experiment with nearly 900 consumers of two brands.FindingsAlthough non-identifying relationships offer buffering effects, identifying relationships primarily offer love-becomes-hate effects by intensifying negative emotions such as anger and disappointment, which in turn affect consumers' behavioral intentions. Such patterns hold regardless of whether a crisis directly threatens the core meaning of the brand.Originality/valueThis study clarifies the effects of different types of CBRs in crises and shows that deep psychological connections (i.e. identifying relationships) offer love-becomes-hate effects. It suggests that one promising future research direction for crisis communication and public relations scholars is to examine how to mitigate such love-becomes-hate effects so that brands can keep their loyal consumers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Jin ◽  
Augustine Pang ◽  
Joshua Smith

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the veracity of the contingency model of ethical crisis communication by examining the factors of influence in a time of crisis including what constitutes ethics in a time of crisis; the role of public relations (PR) practitioners as the “moral conscience” of an organization and perceptions of the PR’ role within top management. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted among ten senior PR managers with crisis communication experience in North America. Findings This research identifies and investigates six ethical variables – the nature of the crisis, the role of top management, the activism of stakeholders, government regulation/intervention, the diversity of cultures and the exposure to external business environments – and their potential influences on an organization’s communication practices. Research limitations/implications The qualitative approach does not produce generalizable results. In addition, the authors could have interviewed more people, although the authors have reached information saturation in analyzing the interview data based on the ten interviews conducted. Practical implications Insights from this exploratory study contribute to answering the “how” questions with empirical data that enhance the clarity on the roadmap of ethical factors in crisis communication practice. Originality/value Unlike other conceptual work that explores moral philosophies in ethics, this study aims to offer a practical approach – rather than a philosophical argument and persuasion – that is rooted in the practitioner’s world.


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