The Bush Administration communicated with the country early and often throughout the day of the attack, despite the President's absence from Washington. "What do you do if
you're having disaster like this?" asks Jack Felton, president and CEO, Institute for Public Relations, and professor of journalism at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
"Someone stands up, takes charge, and reassures the nation that it's going to be okay. From the first moment they could, they had the President up and running."
Felton commends other top government officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House Communications Director Karen Hughes for their thorough communications
with the American people. "If something like this can be carefully orchestrated, I think they've done a tremendous job."
High marks were given to New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who was in front of the media throughout Day One, notes Katie Paine, president, Delahaye Medialink. Paine also
noted that it was relatively easy to identify those on-air spokespeople who had worked with skilled PR professionals and those who had not. "Many people had never been in front
of cameras before," she observes. "Those with clear, consistent, accurate information got their messages out there."
Clarity, Consistency and Speed
The American Red Cross was able to hit the ground running on September 11 with blood donation and disaster relief efforts almost instantaneously underway in New York, DC, and
Pennsylvania. The organization relied extensively on its Intranet (known as "Crossnet") to post key messages, backgrounders, fast facts, photos and other important crisis response
procedures necessary to relief workers.
The Red Cross used its external Web site and online press room to field a glut of press inquiries and to function as the ultimate disaster and recovery resource for the
American public. The site includes thanks to volunteers, information on recovery initiatives in progress and resources for everything from talking about disasters with children to
finding an outlet to donate blood. The home page also provides phone numbers for family members searching for victims and phone numbers for American Airlines, United Airlines and
various military and non-military hotlines in Washington.
Corporations pitched in, as well. Within three hours of the plane crashes, Amazon.com, AOL, IBM and Microsoft each offered to mirror the Red Cross's site to keep it from
crashing. Red Cross also received offers from Amtrak and USAir to transport relief workers and goods between DC, New York and Pennsylvania.
"I've been gratified to know that everyone is in this for the right reasons instead of trying to glom on and get free PR," says Bill Blaul, SVP of communications and marketing
at the Red Cross. "These are extraordinary circumstances, even for the Red Cross. It's the worst disaster ever to strike the United States of America. What it has called for in
terms of communications is clarity, consistency and speed."
As part of its ongoing crisis response plan, the Red Cross keeps a corps of volunteer public affairs workers on a ready list. These volunteers were deployed immediately after
the attacks occurred last Tuesday. Among the volunteers was Heather McMurtrie, a former Red Cross employee who now works for Ogilvy PR in Manhattan. She stepped in to handle
front-line media relations, along with several other spokespersons who arrived from Philadelphia.
Agencies at the Ready
Communications agencies nationwide are offering emergency crisis counseling free-of-charge to businesses in need. Hill & Knowlton, New York, for example, took an inventory
of clients who might have been affected by the attacks and offered 72 hours worth of crisis counsel to any client who needed it. Several clients took the agency up on its offer,
including one (undisclosed) airline. Another client, a European broadband company, sent a film crew to New York, where it used H&K's offices as a base to broadcast coverage
back home.
TeleDomains.com, a New York business specializing in customized toll-free numbers, waived sign-up fees for companies, government agencies and nonprofits that needed to set up
toll-free hotlines immediately.
Countless agencies and businesses granted liberal leave to employees wishing to donate blood, time and expertise to the giant rescue-and-relief effort underway. The National
Association of Professional Insurance Agents issued a press release urging its members nationwide to "donate blood and support the charitable relief efforts of the Red Cross."
Other companies communicated similar messages to employees through their Intranets. PR agencies in the affected areas, including H&K and Porter Novelli, brought in grief
counselors to support their employees.
Independently, many businesses issued press releases simply announcing that they were open for business, as an employee communications measure and as a response to terrorist
attackers (in keeping with the President's suggestion that the best way to fight back against terrorism is to demonstrate that the U.S. is moving on). Among those deploying this
tactic were mortgage powerhouse Freddie Mac, and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which has more than 6,000 employees in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Turning to the Web
Though many corporations had previously acknowledged dark crisis sites, none had prepared for anything like last week's events. Nonetheless, executives from organizations
across the country turned to the Web to offer support and communicate with stakeholders.
American Airlines' site, dominated by a message from CEO Don Carty, expresses the company's sympathy and outlines its response to the disaster. The site also lists a variety of
toll-free phone numbers for domestic and international callers requesting information on the victims of the crashes.
Morgan Stanley, whose offices at the World Trade Center housed more than 3,700 of the investment firm's employees, offered a similar message from Chairman Philip Purcell. "Our
key focus and concern are for the well-being and safety of Morgan Stanley employees." A call center has been established for employee-related safety concerns.
The Aftermath
In the hours and days following the tragic events, PR experts identify the role PR professionals can play in companies large and small, no matter how involved or remote from
"ground zero."
"There's a struggle - a conflict," says Katie Paine, "to remain non-public, safely at home with family, versus coming together as a nation. It is our role," she adds, "to pry
out of [our] cocoons and help people understand what they can do." Paine adds that PR counselors need to prioritize messages, filter news and deliver in-house counsel.
Brenda Siler, public relations director of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Associat-ion, agrees that PR leaders must provide the "voice of conscience" in their respective
organizations, ensuring sensitive and appropriate messaging. "How things are framed on a Web site, how the national crisis is acknowledged" are important issues a PR professional
will want to consider, she says. The results of these efforts, she adds, are to bring comfort to a membership or other targeted community, and to demonstrate that they,
individually and together, can help the nation move forward. ASHA members will read in their newsletter, for example, how their peers "added value to relief efforts" through
volunteer consultations with medical partners treating terrorist victims in New York and Washington.
(Contacts: Katie Paine, 603/868-1550, [email protected]; Bill Blaul, 202/639-3501; Jack Felton, 352/392-0280, [email protected]; Brenda Siler, 301/897-0104)
Crisis Web Sites
The following sites, including news sites, airline sites and corporate sites from World Trade Center tenants, exemplify the best of crisis Web efforts:
- Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org,
exhaustive information on recovery. - American Airlines: http://www.aa.com,
features message from CEO; http://www.amrcorp.com,
features press releases, list of names of passengers and crew of flights that
crashed, info on American's relief/recovery efforts. - United Airlines: http://www.ual.com,
features lists of emergency numbers for victims' families, press releases,
message from CEO - MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.com, exhaustive
coverage of the event, the recovery, the investigation, and the reaction of
Americans nationwide; site also includes contact info in a "How You Can Help"
feature. - CNN: http://www.cnn.com, thorough
coverage and resources. - FoxNews: http://www.foxnews.com,
thorough coverage, also includes a list of World Trade Center tenants. - ABCNews: http://www.abcnews.com,
thorough coverage and resources. - Morgan Stanley: http://www.morganstanley.com,
message from CEO to external stakeholders, extensive communications with employees
via Web site as well, information on how to call in information on anyone
who was working in or visiting World Trade Center. - Bank of America: http://www.bankofamerica.com,
a powerful tool with not only a message from BofA's president and CEO, but
a deep trove of resources for employees, including emergency numbers, information
on what the bank is doing to help, how to talk to children about grief, grief
counseling resources, information on terrorism, etc. - Lehman Brothers: http://www.lehman.com,
provides information from Chairman, as well as info for employees and grief
resources.