Wow! what a wonderful summary of turmoil and suspense, put in very nicely in one angle PR and info sharing.
The deep routed culture of Malaysia and China in information sharing also makes the news sharing complicated not to mention the security aspects.
It is for the poor family members, kith and kin that something credible should be known and informed.
wonderful article, informative and thought provoking, great work sir.
The deep routed culture of Malaysia and China in information sharing also makes the news sharing complicated not to mention the security aspects.
It is for the poor family members, kith and kin that something credible should be known and informed.
wonderful article, informative and thought provoking, great work sir.
With best wishes and warm regards
S.Krishnamurthy
www.alphabeticstraining.in
Ph. 91-44-42122363
Mobile. 9884278542
S.Krishnamurthy
www.alphabeticstraining.in
Ph. 91-44-42122363
Mobile. 9884278542
On Thursday, 20 March 2014 9:46 PM, S. Narendra <sunarendra@gmail.com> wrote:
Defensive or Proactive PR-The case of
Missing Plane MH 370
Nearly two weeks after the MAS plane went missing. Malaysian government is facing a complex PR crisis. The perception is that the government (since MAS is a government owned airline) is on the defensive and it is not candid in its communication.
Is this perception justified? Has the media, especially the western news channels, been fair in their coverage? Did something go wrong in communication? In what areas Malaysian scored on PR front?
To a large extent the nature of the tragedy makes the PR exercise in an airline accident a very delicate one, especially when it involves an international flight. There are multiple factors at play- emotions of tragedy victims,, international network of aviation (divided) responsibilities and , security considerations, and cultural factors and media impatience and speculation. To an extent some of the players may be anxious to cover their backs and pass the blame.
First the Facts
The flight went off the Malaysian air control radar around one am 13 days back, while on its way to Beijing. In the normal course, it would have left Malaysian airspace and entered the Vietnamese airspace. According to media reports, when a flight transits from one air space into another, there occurs a vacuum, meaning the flight is not on any country's radar for a very brief time.
Unanswered Questions
So far it has not been made public what steps the Malaysian air controllers took as soon as the plane reportedly lost contact with them, and until the next morning. Standard procedure is for air controllers to alert air borne aircraft ( and ships at sea) at the time in the vicinity of last reported space to look out for the missing aircraft in the sky or report sighting of any fire in the sky or sea or land. It is also not clear whether the Vietnamese air controllers alerted their Malaysian counterparts when the scheduled MH 370 was missed from their radars. When the search began the next day, the Vietnamese search parties without verifirication announced the sighting of plane debris in their waters (South China Sea).
Did the government air controllers promptly alert all concerned as per the standard operating procedures? Did they and MAS wait until day break for starting any meaningful action? The functioning of engines of Aircraft as Boeing or Airbus are regularly monitored by manufacturers. Long haul flights not only use ground control signals but also satellite communication for navigation. Three or four days after the tragedy , it was made known by the Wall Street Journal that the engine manufacturer (Rolls Royce) had picked up some information from the flight engines but was promptly denied by Malaysian authorities. The information about Inmersat and other satellites picking up signals ('pings') from the flight came to light a few days later, opening up the possibility of the aircraft diversions and a hijack.
A factor that affected the perception of Malaysia as slow in its investigations was the fact that the initial presumption on their part was an air crash. The report that two passengers on board the ill-fated flight had used fake passports and managed to pass through Malaysian security went to frame the country in poor light. In spite of this discovery, the authorities either did not immediately press an investigation to check the background of ground staff, immigration officials and the flight crew; in the event of they having initiated such an investigation, they did not disclose such information promptly. The presence of flight simulator at the residence of flight captain was discovered rather late and the search of his house and confiscation of the simulator was further delayed. A little more mystery was added by the discovery that some data in the simulator had been deleted.
Malaysia is also facing flack because its air defence system located at Butterworth, over which the flight reportedly flew, did not detect an unidentified aircraft. An air defence system is expected to scramble up fighter planes when an unidentified aircraft shows up in designated air space. The government owned airline MAS was slow in offering to fly the families of the victims to a place nearest to the crash site, in case the flight had really crashed. The airline also did not offer the Chinese government to pay for engaging the services of counsellors who could work with the families of the victims in coping with the traumatic experience of not knowing about the fate of their loved ones ( why China itself did not provide such services went unquestioned in the media).
Media briefings
On the first day after the plane went missing ,the media briefing was handled by MAS and aviation officials. After Vietnam , publicly gave out a false lead, attracting flak, the media briefing was elevated to the level of a government minister. The Prime Minister of Malaysia himself addressed the media a few days later ,and personally called heads of governments seeking help and cooperation, when it became known that the flight might have changed course. The Transportation Minister assisted by a technical team regularly briefed the media daily.
In the mean while, China ( as its citizens formed the largest number of victims) queered the pitch by officially taking the stand that Malaysia was not doing enough. China also hinted that Malaysia was not sharing all the information in its possession. On 19th, March, the some members of the victims' families flown to Malaysia by the airline attempted to force their way into the media briefing, offering the media a great visual opportunity. BBC camera specially focused on this scene, showing uniformed police blocking the media from getting close to the protesters.
On the social network there were large number of jibes about the search operations conducted by the Malaysian authorities.
While the media told the audiences about the enormity of the job of search (that the arc of the satellite 'pings', stretched from the land across Thailand, Myanmar, China and India right up to Kazakhstan and waters in the Indian ocean on the western coast of Australia to Andaman sea, and beyond running into millions of square miles over sea and land) ,there was no appreciation of the Malaysian government's difficult situation. It was suggested that Malaysia did not either have enough search and rescue resources or did not fully deploy them. Some the initial dozen countries co-opted in the search mission, it was extended to 23 countries.
The media failed to emphasise that the countries involved in the physical search and requested to share satellite surveillance data were perhaps reluctant to make public their information.The Malaysian transport minister when pressed by media to share whatever information gave a laconic reply 'for security reasons we cannot share information'. He did not elaborate.
Visually the Malaysian briefing team presented an impressive picture, with an elegantly English speaking minister flanked by chief of MAS, and defence officials. It was a very well managed daily briefing even in the face of very sketchy information. Unlike the briefings in India, the media present in Kuala Lumpur pressed for answers without chaos caused by journalist shouting and jostling.
The Cultural Factors at Play
The international media had very quickly deployed their top flight journalists to KL. In their reports, especially in the print media, there were suggestions that non-westerners excessively obey hierarchy and do not question orders of their superiors. Some reports recalled the crash landing of a S. Korean flight in California in which the co-pilot reportedly failed to correct the captain in time, leading to the crash. Media also went to town on the failure of Malaysian immigration to cross check passengers pass ports with the Interpol bank of missing or stolen passports (several missions).In this Malaysia was not alone; several countries do not use this resource. One does not know whether it is a feasible exercise given the number of passengers rushing through airports. It was conveniently forgotten by media that westerners passing through the airports resent the biometric checks introduced in US after 9/11 WTC bombings and there is constant pressure to reduce passengers' airport checks.
Good chit to manufacturers
The International channels dug up stories about other aircraft that went missing. They also did an excellent job of educating viewers how modern civil aircrafts work and their safety record. That went to the credit of manufacturers and perhaps both Boeing and Airbus did a good PR job.
What Lessons PR can draw from this air tragedy?
As air safety record is impressive and most accidents occur due to human failure, either of the crew, ground staff and aviation officials concerned, crisis PR management manuals keep gathering dust. There are rarely mock ups to test preparedness of all concerned. While search and rescue ope-rations receive top priority, attending with access to information to the relatives of the families at both departure and landing ends is critical. A proactive approach to reach out, with multiple counters, tele –lines, prompt response to online queries, a special online effort, should be the top priority. The electronic media could be partners in this effort. That would mean sharing maximum information not only the domestic media but also identified other media partners if the accident involves an international flight.
Although aviation requires management by multiple agencies, when an air accident takes place, the airline concerned becomes the focal point. A multiple agency team should be designated in advance to deal with media in an emergency and trained to maintain unity of message. The fixing of blame is the job of a post-accident expert enquiry and the tendency to give arm chair opinions, especially by political heads of any aviation agency, should be avoided.
There could be many other PR lessons from the missing MH 370.Otehr members of the PR group may like to contribute.
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Regards.
S.Narendra
First Media Cons
(former Information adviser to PM/PIO govt of India)
84,National Media Center,Shankar Ch,NH-8
Gurgaon Haryana-122002
Tel 01242359999/9810109097
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