SOUND COUNSEL VIEWS ON RUPERT MURDOCH'S HANDLING OF THE COMMUNICATION CRISIS

Recently we've seen even a media giant can flub crisis communications. Our partners at Sound Counsel have been asked repeatedly to grade Murdoch's response. He gets a mixed grade. We've been reminded yet again of the importance of having a crisis communications plan in place.  Sound Counsel offers insights on the cautionary lessons to be learned from News Corp, as well as what Murdoch did right throughout this crisis. Read on as these lessons are explained below...



Things Murdoch has done right:

1. He apologized -- News Corp took out full page advertisements titled, "We are sorry."

2. He expressed emotion and visited victim’s family -- Murdoch said he was "shocked and appalled" when he learned that his employees had hacked into the phone of murder victim Millie Dowler. Murdoch met with Millie Dowler's family. The family's lawyer said Murdoch seemed "shaken and sincere."



Cautionary lessons we can learn from Murdoch:

1. News Corp obfuscated and tried to cover up -- Remember that Murdoch's media empire was first accused in 2006 of hacking phones. In 2009, the company allegedly paid $1.6 million to settle legal cases that might have exposed evidence of wider phone hacking. This attempt to silence the story has only made it more appealing to reporters. Murdoch should have anticipated more scrutiny and acted decisively at least by 2009. Covering up or ignoring problems only compounds an organization's troubles by inviting later intense scrutiny.

2. Murdoch is denying responsibility -- Murdoch says he's not responsible for the hacking, his employees are. Specifically, he placed blame on, "the people that I trusted to run it, and then maybe the people they trusted to run it." Wrong answer. It was the quote played most often from Tuesday's hearings, because it was news: Murdoch appears to be passing the buck, and this will only anger the public.

3. Murdoch has damaged his credibility -- On July 9th, Murdoch said his lieutenant, Rebekah Brooks, had his "full support." Brooks was arrested on July 20th on suspicion of bribing police. We're not certain we can trust Murdoch's statements.


It’s hard to make the right moves on the fly as the camera is in your face and the bright lights are turned on. Creating the plan forces an organization to think and plan ahead.


An anonymous source told Adweek on Friday: “I think it was strategic blunder for both News Corp. to wait so long to hire an outside agency ... given how in the spotlight they are and how much they are a target of public criticism.” Guess what? We agree!


Contact us for more information on Sound Counsel Crisis Communications.

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