PR Experts Dissect Baltimore’s Crisis Response

 

Better crisis management could have prevented the recent violence in Baltimore, according to PR crisis management experts.

Public relations experts and others criticized Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for poor crisis communications following the death of a man in police custody, saying her response only contributed to the problem.

Government officials failed to respond quickly and transparently, wrote Corey Ealons, senior vice president of VOX Global, a public affairs communications firm. A crisis, whether a plane crash, data breach or other disaster, calls for “maximum disclosure with minimum delay,” stated Ealons, a former White House spokesperson for President Barack Obama, in an opinion piece for NBC News.

In addition to releasing what you know, maximum disclosure means saying what you don’t know, why you don’t know it, and outlining a plan to find answers. It means finding and revealing answers as soon as possible, yet the case remains unresolved almost a month after Freddie Gray died after receiving injuries in police custody, he said.

(The prosecutor for Baltimore has now charged the six involved police officers with various crimes in connection with Gray’s detention and death.)

The Importance of Photo Ops

Imagery is vital during a crisis, something the mayor evidentially doesn’t understand, according to Steven Schlein, senior vice president at Dezenhall Resources, a crisis communications firm.

Governing calls for more than just meeting with advisors and approving decisions, asserts Schlein, a former press secretary to members of Congress, in a post for Real Clear Politics. Competent leaders appear frequently before the media and public, especially during times of crisis.

The day when fires and looting dominated the images from Baltimore, the mayor held no photo ops and no major interviews for most of the day. She held a press conference at 8 p.m. to say she was too busy “managing” to talk to the media. It was almost midnight before she held an interview with CNN.

A photo op that day could have shown she was “managing” more effectively than speaking from lectern at a press conference. Imagery and photo ops should not be derided; they are part of an effective communications strategy.

PR Crisis Management Tips

Schlein offers this crisis management advice:

Hit the streets. Talk to protesters, police officers, community leaders and invite the media. Meetings may be unpleasant, but politicians are judged by how they accept criticism as well the applause.

Do live interviews from the street corners with the media, including local television in prime time. Answer tough questions even if you have to admit some mistakes. Leadership does not require infallibility.

Convey a sense of order by articulating your plan in short sound bites. Whatever the plan is, you need to boil it down to three of four sentences that people can easily understand.

Take firm actions if needed. If you believe the police or someone else in the administration failed, fire someone. If you believe looters should be arrested, do it.

Think Hard Before Talking

Others believe carefully crafted, scripted speeches are preferable to impromptu, unplanned appearances before the media.

When speaking to the media, the mayor said: “It’s a very delicate balancing act, because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other, y’know, things that were going on, um, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”

She later back pedaled from the comment, but the remark about giving protesters space was a mistake that might have contributed to the violence, said Richard Lavinthal, managing director of PRforLAW LLC, in a CommPRO.biz post. A preferable alternative would have been to read a statement that was extensively reviewed.

Baltimore has no press secretary, he added. If it had, the situation might have turned out differently.

The key principles for political and community crisis can also be applied to crisis communications for corporations: Tell it first, tell it all, be open.

Bottom Line: Baltimore’s response to recent violence drew severe critiques from PR crisis management experts. Proper crisis management requires a fast response, full and forthright revelations, and visibility before the media, elements that were lacking in Baltimore’s crisis response.