A local hospital
is at the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy and costly resolution of a situation involving a prominent physician, many, many of his patients and now, legions of attorneys.
In fairness to the hospital, it is a complicated situation not easily explained and therefore not easily understood by most of us. Additionally, there are many points of view that will be played out in the media for the foreseeable future.
However, based on media coverage thus far, the hospital does not appear to be assertively defining the situation to one physician in one department utilizing one procedure.
If we were asked our opinion on what their crisis communications strategy should be, we would implore them to quickly and decisively place the situation in context of the hospital’s overall reputation. It should then implement an ongoing, focused communications program that defines and defends the institution’s expertise and reputation beyond the boundaries of the current situation, albeit a serious and far-reaching one.
The incredible coverage in the traditional media, posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online venues of the recent Jet Blue flight attendant’s bizarre reaction to a less than civil passenger brings home the point that a crisis is rarely, if ever, straightforward in the facts surrounding what happened.
IMO, what’s getting lost in the accolades for the flight attendant’s way that he quit his job are the bigger, more serious issues of the safety risk he put the passengers in when he deployed the evacuation chute and the complicated state of today’s customer service.
It will be interesting to watch how Jet Blue moves forward and how it incorporates the incident into its customer service training. It should make for an important case study.

Here’s a new one, brought to the PR Buzzsaw’s attention via a Twitter exchange this morning:
Gus Sentementes, a reporter with The Sun in Baltimore, received an unusual request from a PR person who wanted a “100 percent guarantee” that Gus would write a story before he would be granted access to the company. No chance to judge its newsworthiness, no opportunity to see if they had anything interesting to say/show, not to mention what Gus’s editor would decide. Promise you’ll write a story first, and then you can sit down with the company reps. Otherwise it’s a waste of time!
Gus was likely as surprised as we were, and sent out a tweet to see what PR people who follow him on Twitter thought.
I tweeted that the PR person was either clueless about the media or did not have the ability to counsel his/her management team about what a bad idea it is, and that it will have negative repercussions for the company/brand down the road.
Gus confirmed in a subsequent post:
“I meet a lot of people and I have a long memory. Just b/c I don’t write about u now doesn’t mean I won’t in the future.”
Later, Gus tweeted how he responded:
“I said making a guarantee would be unethical and unrealistic. I haven’t heard back.”
If any PR people out there have ever requested a coverage guarantee, we’d love to hear your point of view. Has it ever worked? Maybe we can all learn something.

Media Training Tip #11: Company is Coming!
By · Comments
In preparing for a visit from a member of the esteemed Fourth Estate, focusing on getting yourself ready with relevant talking points, answers to anticipated questions as well as a mock interview session or two are the obvious and right priorities.
However, you should regard this visit much as you would that of any VIP or a guest in your home. Make sure to communicate “Welcome” with a comfortable setting for the interview, appropriate refreshments, and check that the office areas are free of clutter and the restrooms are spotless. Simple but important.
An Insider’s View from Television Hill in Baltimore
By · Comments
Here at Sawmill we take every opportunity to meet with decision-makers in the news business to learn how we can help them do their jobs. We recently heard from news and assignment desk sources at WJZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, who told us exactly what they’re looking for and how to reach them. We then took a quick tour of the studio with members of the Baltimore Public Relations Council. Here’s a behind-the-scenes (or should we say in-front-of-the-cameras) view, beginning with the Morning Edition desk, then sweeping left to the main news desk and finally the First Warning Weather center.
BP’s Crisis Communications Continues to Bewilder
By · CommentsBP continues to distinguish itself in a growing number of categories in the ongoing sad saga of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill mess, including the bewildering way it communicates with the world.
We wish we could enroll them in our crisis communications summit. But it may be way too late.
Sunday’s photo of Tony Hayward watching his yacht race was one that will rank high on the “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I would have never believed it” list! How could anyone at BP have thought that would be an OK way to spend a Sunday afternoon in public and that the media would give his attendance a pass?
While the opportunity has been missed for BP to get out in front of the crisis as well as also ignoring a long list of other effective crisis communications fundamentals, there is still time (thanks in part to BP’s difficulties in finding a workable solution to capping the leak) for BP to communicate — through their actions and words on and off the job — genuine and sincere empathy to a world that is in dire need of it.
Will they do it?


