Page 134 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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Challenges for the International Food Sector 115
carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil and it had suffered a breakdown
and was adrift. The ship’s crew was successfully rescued, but the
Spanish authorities discovered a fuel leak at sea.
The ship, built in 1976, was leaving a large slick of oil in its
wake. The Prestige, sailing under the Bahamas flag, was serving
the route Latvia–Singapore and should have been taken out of
service long ago. The results of the spill were devastating: 2,000
kilometres of coast were polluted by the black tide; fishing was
prohibited in a 486 kilometre area and the whole seafood
industry faced a serious risk of collapse. It is a good example of
an ecological and political catastrophe as well as a food and
social crisis.
After a week of breakdowns and problems, the Prestige finally
sank on 20 November 2002. The sinking and its consequences
became a cover story in both the Spanish and international
media. The government of the time, el Partido Popular, was not
responsible for the accident, but was guilty in the eyes of the
world’s public opinion. Why? Because it reacted late to the crisis
and in such a clumsy way that it seemed responsible, giving
opposition parties the opportunity to make a connection
between the most serious ecological disaster ever suffered in
Spain and one of the most notorious sinkings ever, and the gov-
ernment’s poor communication.

Figure 8.1 The Prestige in the sea

An administration under fire
Beyond the serious mistakes committed in the political-adminis-
trative management of the accident (underestimation of the
problem, delayed reaction), the truth is that the Spanish govern-
ment did not know how to tackle the crisis in terms of handling
the media.
It did not establish a single, authoritative information point,
which is crucial in crisis situations; the Portuguese