Good pr lessons out of Aurora tragedy

It’s a Crisis, Now What? Lessons from the Aurora, Columbine and Oklahoma City Tragedies

POSTED ON JUL 24, 2012

By Peggy Bendel, Bendel Communications, Author, “It’s a Crisis, Now What?,” and Rob DeRocker

On Saturday, New York Times op-ed contributor and movie critic Roger Ebert headlined his commentary about the Aurora, Colo. shooting, “We’ve seen this movie before.”

Indeed we have – and sadly, we’ll probably see it again. The horrific spasm of violence that killed 12, mostly young people and injured 58 others at midnight last Friday bears many of the trademarks of similar incidents around the US – and the world:

• Victims unrelated to the perpetrator – and for the most part, themselves
• A deranged suspect acting alone while flying under the radar with a carefully thought-out plan
• Sufficient firepower  to kill large numbers of people faster than it takes to place a call to 911
• A “this-isn’t-supposed-to-happen-here” venue – incongruous locales that have included a shopping mall in Toronto, a camp in Norway, a shopping center in Tucson, a university campus in Virginia, a Federal office building  in Oklahoma City. And now, a suburban theater in Colorado, at the premiere screening of a picture inauspiciously entitled “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Of course, rather than “not supposed to happen here,” these disparate scenes are reminders that “this could happen anywhere.” But for the moment, at least, it’s a particular challenge for Aurora – and even more so for Colorado. 

As Friday’s tragedy began to dominate the airwaves there were the inevitable references to Columbine, located just 19 miles away. The high school massacre there took place 13 years ago. It may just as well have been the day before. No one uttering “Columbine” needed elaborate. The word is synonymous with tragedy. But newspapers in subsequent days were more explicit in suggesting a connection; a photo on the front page of the New York Times showed the hilltop with 15 crosses memorializing the 1999 tragedy. Above it was the headline: “Colorado Gun Laws Remain Lax, Despite Some Changes.” Typical, too, was the posting by a friend on one of our Facebook pages: “Is it something in the water? I used to think Colorado was (a) beautiful and peaceful place…  .”

As marketers who have spent most of our careers promoting places for economic development and tourism, we, too, have “seen this movie before.” On April 1, 1995 we went to work for the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce with the charge to “put the city on the map.” Nineteen days later the diabolical work of Timothy McVeigh did exactly that. For years, Oklahomans lamented that the word “bombing” had been become the third word in the city’s name. Only recently have the community’s recession-beating prosperity and wildly successful NBA team allowed it to escape an identity dominated by the then-worst terrorist incident on U.S. soil.

Whether Aurora’s image will be as lastingly tied to horror as that of Columbine or Oklahoma City remains to be seen. What we’ve seen so far, however, are players across the board that have provided exemplary lessons in crisis communications. Monitoring the flurry of news dispatches and iReports in the past few days, four of the seven principles of crisis communications outlined in our just-published book“It’s a Crisis! NOW What?” were in evidence:

1. Know which crisis is yours – and act accordingly.

The Aurora tragedy contained many sub-crises that called for a response from a wide variety of entities:

• The Aurora Police Department, which has been forthcoming and factual throughout;
• Warner Brothers, which swiftly issued their condolences, cancelled the film’s Paris premiere and delayed releasing weekend statistics on the film’s success, but who were described on mediadecoder.com as “struggling for a response “ (http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/warner-brothers-assesses-potential-responses-on-dark-knight/);
• The FBI and ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), which swiftly traced the source of the guns involved;
• The hospitals receiving the victims, one of which treated victims of the Columbine High School shooting, and all of which noted they were well-prepared for Aurora since they now conduct emergency response drills at least semi-annually (http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/health/colorado-shooting-emergency-response/index.html?iid=article_sidebar)
• The families of the victims, who have been actively communicating through traditional and social media, and of the shooter, who issued a brief statement of condolences and requested privacy, though media were encamped across the street (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-21/colorado-shooting-victim-identities/56389076/1 and );
• The University of Colorado-Denver’s graduate school, from which the alleged shooter was withdrawing, whose spokesperson confirmed his attendance, and outlined precautionary measures taken on campus;
• The military bases where four of the victims – two killed and two injured – were stationed, which swiftly announced that grief counseling was available to anyone who desired it;
• The Presidential candidates and other politicians, local and national, all of whom suspended “politics as usual” to urge a focus on the victims and their families (http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_21121264?source=pop);
• Advocates for, and opponents of, gun control, who issued a flurry of statements (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/21/us-usa-shooting-guns-campaign-idUSBRE86J18M20120721) and posted online petitions (http://www.bradynetwork.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=6240&autologin=true)
• And of course, the media: local, national and international, who themselves are being critiqued, such as the off-the-cuff remark on Friday’s GMA linking the shooter to the Colorado Tea Party (http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/a-misstep-on-gma-as-networks-rush-to-cover-shooting/)

2. Be proactive.

While the official list of those killed and injured was not released for almost 48 hours, families and friends stepped forward to identify themselves to the media, and provide details about their lives, hopes and dreams, adding a deeper human dimension to the coverage.

Various experts also made themselves available to the media, among them retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente and Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck.

Comments from prior tragedies were repeated, such as the trauma recovery guidelines for people, parents and communities involved in a mass tragedy, which were issued by the American Psychological Association after the Tucson shooting in January 2011, from local psychologist Joel Dvoskin: (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-21/theater-shooting-counseling-experts/56394318/1)

3. Make the power of the Internet and social media work for you.

News of the tragedy spread swiftly through tweets and mobile Facebook posts, and an active discussion still ensues, underlining the importance of the Internet and social media in breaking news. Three examples from Aurora, among countless:

• The Aurora Police Department used their Twitter account to update the progress of disarming the suspect’s booby-trapped apartment;
• The Red Cross urged anyone who lived in the area to update their Facebook pages and tweet to friends and family that they were all right, or via their “Safe and Well” page, which links to both social media outlets (https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php);
• The mother of victim Jessica Ghawi (known as Jessica Redfield in her nascent sports reporting career, and an avid Twitter user) urged re-tweets of #RIPJessica, so that her daughter’s name would trend, not that of perpetrator James Homes. Jessica’s brother used his blog and Twitter account to update news of his sister and to memorialize her;
• Movie critic Roger Ebert tweeted the op-ed quoted above to his followers (http://t.co/Df0M2lID).

One very important lesson learned: be sure to check out the news before tweeting. The NRA’s cheery tweet at 9:20 Friday morning (“Good morning, shooters! Happy Friday – any weekend plans?”) was ill-timed, to say the least.

4. Be consistent, and transparent.

Initial information and updates should come from one primary source: the Aurora Police Department has filled that role well. Providing continuing access to the media, delivering updates as they happen and avoiding speculation builds trust among the media, so they need not seek other sources, who may be ill-informed.

Common sense, of course, are all the principles noted above, and the others outlined in “It’s a Crisis!” In the heat of those first crisis moments, though, it’s often easy to lose focus. Prepare now: there may well be a crisis in your future.

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About the authors

Peggy Bendel (Peggy@BendelCommunications.com) is the author of the just-published “It’s a Crisis! NOW What? The first step-by-step crisis communications handbook for the global travel and hospitality industry.” The President of Bendel Communications International, she is an internationally-recognized travel marketing expert who has worked with more than 50 countries, states, convention & visitors bureaus, hotels, cruise lines and tour operators around the world. Recognized with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Peggy is a frequent speaker on marketing, branding, public relations, crisis communications and social media, she sits on the boards of the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME.org), the Destination and Travel Foundation (destinationmarketing.org) and Ecology Project International (ecologyproject.org). She began her career as a travel writer for the State of New York, joining Development Counsellors International in 1985 to re-launch their travel division, handling the public relations for the Australian Tourist Commission’s “Shrimp on the Barbie” campaign.

Rob DeRocker (rob@robderocker.com), a contributor to “It’s a Crisis! NOW What?,” is an economic development marketing consultant based in Tarrytown, NY and St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands with nearly a quarter century’s worth of experience in the field. For 18 years Rob served on the staff at Development Counsellors International, a New York City- based firm specializing in economic development marketing.  Before joining DCI, Rob served as speech writer for New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development.  He also was founding Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity in New York and was responsible for recruiting former President Jimmy Carter as a Habitat volunteer. Among other career highlights at DCI, Rob counseled and assisted the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce in its public response to the then-worst terrorist incident in American history.  Rob organized national communications for the “Thank You, America” tour, a coast-to-coast event which paid tribute to rescue workers who had assisted in the bombing aftermath. Rob has personally served some three dozen clients ranging from Puerto Rico to New Zealand.  He has been often quoted on economic development issues in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CFO, Financial Times and many other business publications, and has appeared on CNN and Fox News, among other media.