Framing the media's agenda during a crisis

With the experience of past crises, like the 1989 Christmas Eve explosion, and numerous drills behind them, Exxon began the arduous task of dealing with an explosion and fire that occurred on August 2, 1993, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over a 4-day period of heavy media coverage, some 36 newspaper ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public relations quarterly 1994-12, Vol.39 (4), p.42
Main Authors: Duhe, Sonya te, Zoch, Lynn M
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents
Case studies
Communication
Compassion
Corporate responsibility
Emergency preparedness
Employees
Explosions
Fatalities
Fires
Hazardous materials
Management of crises
Media
Media coverage
Missing persons
News media
Petroleum industry
Petroleum refineries
Press releases
Public relations
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Summary:With the experience of past crises, like the 1989 Christmas Eve explosion, and numerous drills behind them, Exxon began the arduous task of dealing with an explosion and fire that occurred on August 2, 1993, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over a 4-day period of heavy media coverage, some 36 newspaper articles were published on the incident and 86 broadcast stories were aired. In those news reports, when sources were used, Exxon was well represented. When comparing Exxon's 8 news releases against print and broadcast media coverage, themes became apparent. Exxon communicated corporate responsibility and managerial compassion. While Exxon followed the advice of Robert Dilenschneider, former president of Hill and Knowlton, to go public in the first 3 to 6 hours after the news breaks, its failure to get the word out during the first 2 and 1/2 hours after the explosion affected the initial media coverage of the incident.
ISSN:0033-3700