(This week, PR News editors Phil Hall and Courtney Barnes dodge the Vice President's rifle while commenting on the PR debacle surrounding his recent hunting mishap.)
PHIL: Hey Courtney, do you want to go hunting with Dick Cheney this weekend? Do you have medical coverage? Seriously, what kind of a PR debacle is going on with the
Vice President's ready-aim-oops hunting trip? This incident is already one for the history books (Cheney and Aaron Burr share the strange distinction of being the only Vice
Presidents to shoot people while in office). But closer to today, it also provides another sad example of what happens when people in authority (whether it be governmental,
corporate or nonprofit) refuse to acknowledge problems as they occur and call out the spin doctors to confuse the public into distraction. The end result is ultimately the PR
equivalent of a shot in the foot.
COURTNEY: The handling - or mishandling, as it were - of this debacle is one for the record books. The first news appearance I saw simply stated across a ticker: VP
shoots man. That's quite a way to hear the news. And once again, PR representation is under fire for releasing the information a day late and a buck short - literally. As was
the case in West Virginia mining tragedies, public relations managers suffer from a lack of communication skills. There are three lessons from this: transparency, transparency,
transparency. It is essential to be forthcoming with missteps or misfires because the news will become public. And this is quite a way to get your feet wet with crisis
management, no?
PHIL: Why do I suddenly hear Peter, Paul & Mary wailing: "When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?" Now here are some crisis communications reminders
for all Phil & Courtney fans: Honesty is, indeed, the best policy. Fingers were not made for pointing, facts were not made for fudging, and humility is not something that has
to be pummeled out of you. Crisis communications should be a proactive attempt to keep the world abreast of what went wrong, why, and what steps are being taken to correct the
problem. What else am I forgetting here?
COURTNEY: You forgot the biggie: Don't resort to humor as a line of defense. On February 14, Bush's spokesperson Scott McClellan joked about the orange color of the
visiting University of Texas football team, saying, "The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the Vice President may be there. That's why I'm
wearing it." It seems like a comment more appropriate for a late-night television host, not a communications professional who is trying to placate a crisis. The press secretary
also offered the following excuse for the tardy release of the story: "I think you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job." Clearly, that's an
understatement.
PHIL: Egad, indeed! Unless you have a contract with Comedy Central or you walk in the presence of the saints and apostles, never inject jokes or a holier-than-
thou attitude into the crisis communications mix. Finally, the intelligent PR professional will have a contingency plan in place in the event of a crisis. It is better to be
prepared than winging the situation with a wink, a smile, and the ol' obfuscation soft-shoe.