Page 188 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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14 Crisis

communication

and the net

Is it just about responding

faster… or do we need to

learn a new game?

Roger Bridgeman (United States)

Introduction

The internet is accelerating the pace and scope of crises faster than
ever before. A story, a rumour, a piece of information posted by a dis-
gruntled employee becomes a ‘fact’ as fast as someone hits the ‘send’
button.
Yet, more than just a faster channel for information, the internet is a
different kind of medium that is realigning the role and influence of
the media, institutions and corporations, while empowering new
activists and even the average citizen sitting in front of their personal
computer. Today’s Web 2.0 is connecting people and ideas in new
ways. It’s shutting down printing presses and making anyone with a
Blackberry or video cell phone a new citizen journalist. It empowers
even the smallest interest group to take on a global corporation.
The pace and reach of the media have always set the scope and
severity of the crises that face organizations and corporations.
Companies used to have a day, sometimes even a week, to respond to
what the public were reading in their morning papers. Even then, the
story might be restricted to the paper’s circulation. Television acceler-