Organisational Crises in the Media: Crisis Response Strategies and News Coverage

Abstract

During a crisis, the crisis response strategies used reflect the extent to which an organisation accepts responsibility for the crisis. These strategies could subsequently affect the organisation’s image and reputation. Thus, organisations are advised to be strategic in their choices of crisis response strategies through an analysis of the crisis situations. This study examines a crisis caused by an organisation’s appointed advertising agency whose actions led the organisation to be accused of interfering with press freedom. This study uses content analysis to analyse the news coverage on the crisis response strategies used and the tone of the coverage. It found that justification was the most frequently used strategy. When the strategy of excuse was reported in the news coverage, the overall tone of the coverage was likely to be negative. The implications of the findings are also discussed.