Do crisis response strategies influence the
framing and agenda building in the news
media?
Student: Andrei RydzkowskiStudent ID: 10842039 Supervisor: Pytrik Schafraad
University of Amsterdam Submitted: 29/01/2016
Do crisis response strategies influence the framing and agenda building in the news media?Index
Abstract 3
1. Introduction 3
1.2 The aviation industry crises 5
2. Theoretical framework 7
2.1 Crisis response strategies 7
2.2 News items 13 2.3 Framing 15 3. Methodology 20 3.1 Design 20 3.2 Measures 21 3.3 Reliability 22 4. Results 22 5. Conclusion 28 5.1 Limitations 33 References 35
Appendix A: Measures of reliability 41
Abstract
Crises can have an impact upon any organization, large or small. They often occur without any warning and can severely damage the reputation of an organisation if not managed correctly. This research paper looks at crises within the aviation industry, more specifically comparing and contrasting the crisis communication strategies, framing and agenda building of two crises. These are Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and AirAsia Flight QZ8501. This research paper aims to establish ways in which organisations can use crisis communication strategies to defend themselves from the harmful effects of crises. This was done by conducting a quantitative content analysis of 466 media articles, studying the press releases by organisations, as well as the
framing and news items included by the media. This study reveals that the proactive primary crisis response strategy and commitment for a secondary crisis communication response strategy increased the likelihood of succession in the media. Additionally, this study also shows that there is a difference between the domestic media and international media when reporting on a crisis. Keywords: Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, MH17, QZ8501, Crisis communication, agenda building, framing, news items, reputation, content analysis, press releases
1. Introduction
It is inevitable that organisations will experience crises. Stephen Fink (1986) believes ‘if crises have taught the world anything, it is that a crisis can occur with no warning, anywhere anytime. It can happen to any organization and the safest assumption is that a crisis looms on the horizon.’ However, overcoming this crisis is extremely important to the organisations as it saves
strategy. It is therefore imperative that more research is required regarding both the selection of and the results of crisis communication strategies in the media.
There is an idea that actually research regarding the process of linear communication from the corporation to the media is actually very limited. Schultz and Raupp (2010) measure just press releases and Lyu (2012) measures just news items. This research paper argues that both the press releases and the news items should be examined in order to create a successful answer to crisis communication strategists’ questions. Holladay (2009) believes that this is the case and states that the strategies used in press releases and how they are approached by the media should be analysed further, in order to benefit organisation’s chance of succession of a press release into the news media.
In this study, we will contribute to current research on crisis communication in a few ways. Firstly, we will build upon the advice by Holladay (2009) by analyzing the strategies in both press releases and news items. Secondly, we will explore the content of framing by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) and showing the support for this theory by integrating these frames from the perspective of the aviation industry. We will do this to further Carroll’s (2004) research, which iterates that the news media will sometimes be rigid with their framing selection and as, a result, crisis communication experts may very well have to manage their response strategies within the confines of certain frames. As a result, it is imperative to understand the framing of the media in order to develop an effective crisis response strategy.
We begin the research by introducing the two aviation cases. The aviation industry has been chosen because, according to Mason (2001), airline crises are not unusual and they tend to suffer great exposure around the world. Therefore, a good crisis communication strategy is crucial in maintaining an airline’s image in times of crisis. Gonen and Telli Yamamoto (2012)
iterate that ‘airline companies should have some necessary procedures regulated in normal and crisis times and the communication channels determined professionally.’ (p.46) Franke and John (2011) comment on how the aviation industry can be affected and crises caused by many factors including the downturn in demand or effects on oil pricing. However, the reason that Mason (2001) believes the exposure of the media is often due to passenger fatalities. It is often the case that an accident involving airlines will cause casualties, both psychological and physical as well as potential fatalities. It is therefore extremely important to establish a crisis communication plan as very often, the crisis strategies could involve talking to the media about extremely sensitive issues. We then present a critical review of the crisis communication literature, news items and framing. This is followed by the research design as well as the results. We finish the research project by presenting the results and discussing the recommendations for them via managerial and practical implications.
1.2 The aviation industry crises
This research project will compare and contrast two different crises in the aviation industry. It will compare the response strategies of two different cases and investigate whether or not these responses influenced the media reporting in two different countries.
These were chosen because both airlines could be seen as culpable for the incidents. The first case that will be examined is the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Eastern Ukraine amid highly controversial circumstances. The area from which the anti-aircraft BUK surface to air missile was fired from is in a conflict zone between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government. At the time of writing, it is still unconfirmed as to who fired the missile. However, both the separatists and the Ukrainian government have vehemently denied doing so. The reason as to why this case was chosen was because Malaysia Airlines flew over
the Ukrainian airspace, knowing full well that this was a conflict zone. Other airlines, such as British Airways, Qantas and Cathy pacific had been avoiding the hazardous area for months before the downing of Flight MH17.
George Dell, an investigation and safety specialist at CQ University in Australia believes that airlines should not have chosen routes which flew over that area. In an interview he states: ‘It’s blatantly obvious they shouldn’t have been anywhere near it.’ Dell believes that the blame lies firmly with Malaysia Airlines who iterates that they should have changed their flight path accordingly away from the conflict zone.
The second case that will be examined in this research paper is Air Asia Flight 8501. This airline is also owned by a Malaysian company. The crisis happened on the 28th December 2014. The Air Asia flight from Subrabaya, Indonesia to Singapore crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board. On the 20th January 2011, it was reported that the aircraft had experienced an aerodynamic stall, caused by the pilot trying to ascend too quickly after a denied request to climb to flight level 380. The request was due to poor weather in the area, with thunderclouds reportedly being observed. Two minutes after this, the Air Traffic Controller offered permission to climb, but no response was received from the pilot. However, recent evidence has suggested that Air Asia did not actually have permission to fly that route on Sundays- the day of the accident. Another incident meant that the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC) had malfunctioned, in essence causing the pilot to attempt the unusually steep ascent. However, previous evidence came to light that the FAC had been subject of maintenance problems in the past in the same aircraft.
2. Theoretical framework
2.1 Crisis response strategies. This research paper will use Coombs’ (2007) Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) to explain and understand the crisis response strategies that organisations use. SCCT provides an evidence-based framework for understanding how to maximize the reputational protection afforded by post crisis communication. The empirical research from SCCT provides a set of guidelines for how crisis managers can use crisis response strategies to protect an organisation’s reputation.
Coombs (2007) defines a crisis as ‘an unprecedented event that threatens to disrupt an organisations operations and poses a financial and reputational threat’. Wastick (1992) believes a reputation is an evaluation made by stakeholders about how an organisation is meeting their expectations though previous behaviours. Crises affect this reputation and also a wide range of stakeholders. The International Air Transport Association, a trade association of the world’s major airlines, identifies some of these potential stakeholders. They include: friends and families of those on board, employees, national governments, suppliers and investors. Additionally, the news media will play a critical role as most stakeholders will learn about the crisis from news reports.
Essentially, to guard against the crisis, Coombs believes that reputational capital must be used against it. Alsop (2004) uses the metaphor of a bank account. This is because reputational capital is accumulated over time. A crisis means some of this capital is lost but a favourable reputation limits the damage done. Adapting information acquired from the crisis will help with the psychological threat of the crisis. For stakeholders, the uncertainty creates stress and it is imperative they are told what is happening in regards to the crisis. This is summarized by the IATA’s document regarding crisis communication strategies in the aviation industry: ‘The
objective of crisis communications is to mitigate potential reputational damage to the aviation industry by providing credible, accurate information about an unfolding crisis situation as rapidly as possible.’ The document goes on to say that a company which communicates effectively can emerge after the crisis with its reputation intact and with minimal damage to stakeholder relationships. This echoes the arguments put forward by Coombs (2007).
SCCT therefore assesses how to make the most efficient crisis response strategy and how to effectively communicate with stakeholders. It has roots embedded in it from Attribution theory, which believes that people will always search for causes of events. Weiner (2006) believes that this feeling of searching for causes of events is even greater when the crisis is unexpected and negative, which is what the two case studies are. Ultimately, Coombs (2007) states that if the organisation is seen as responsible for the crisis, then stakeholders become angry.
These factors are identified by Coombs which shape the threat to an organisation’s reputation. These are: the initial crisis responsibility: the crisis history and prior relational reputation. Essentially, the crisis responsibility is how much the stakeholder deems the
organisation is responsible for the crisis. It does matter if stakeholders believe the crisis was an accident, sabotage or criminal negligence. There are three crisis clusters regarding the crisis responsibility: the victim cluster, in which the organisation has little attribution of responsibility, for example rumour and natural disasters. The accidental cluster is where an organisation has minimal attributions of responsibility. Examples of this include technical error accident.
Additionally, there is the intentional cluster in which the organisation is attributed with the crisis, for example a human error accident. The crisis history is whether an organisation has had similar
crises in the past and a prior relational reputation determines how well or badly an organisation treats its stakeholders.
As a result of the aforementioned crisis types, crisis managers must identify which category their organisation is in. Coombs states that the Crisis Responsibility Organisational Reputation Proposition is linked with the idea that stakeholders perceptions of an organisational reputation will decline. Coombs & Holladay (1996) established that there is a negative
relationship between the association of the crisis and the reputation of the organisation. Coombs posits in the SCCT model that the Crisis History Proposition believes that an organisation that has previously experienced similar crises in the past actually has even greater attribution of responsibility and suffers more than an organisation that doesn’t have a crisis history. There is also a trigger of affective reactions, which are anger if the organisation is deemed responsible for the crisis. This can lead to negative word of mouth regarding the
organisation. This then creates what Coombs (2007) defines as the Affect Behavioural Intention Proposition, essentially creating the belief that the stronger the negative feeling for an
organisation, the less likely will be to support the organisation.
Organisations must have a strategy to tackle the crisis. It is difficult to create a
comprehensive and extensive list of strategies. However, this study incorporates the theory of Coombs (2007), Schafraad, Van Zoonen and Verhoeven (2015) and the document of the IATA to create a list of strategies available to crisis managers. This does require an identification of the crisis type. It also means that responsibility is crucial and in a way the crisis response strategies are the organisation’s answer to the question: ‘Are you accountable for this crisis?’ Coombs and Holladay (2004) believe that as crisis response strategies become more accommodative and show
greater concern for victims, stakeholders perceive the organisation as taking greater responsibility for the crisis.
The IATA iterate that a successful press release is combined of a number of factors. The first is that it has to be quick. The document recommends that it should confirm the nature of the event, express regret and concern for those on board. There should always be sympathy for victims and factual information about those on board, both passengers and crew. The crucial advice given in the document is to never give out the names of passengers or crew until the next of kin have been informed.
The crisis response strategies of both SCCT and IATA are subdivided into two categories: primary and secondary. Attacking the accuser is where the organisation confronts the person who claims there is a crisis within the organisation. Denial is where the organisation states there isn’t a crisis. Scapegoat is where blame is placed upon groups outside of the organisation. The excuse strategy is where a crisis manager denies the intent to do harm and says the events that caused the crisis were out of the control of the organisation. Justification is part of the rebuild crisis response strategy which minimizes the perceived damage caused by the crisis. Compensation is where gifts or money is offered by the organisation in response to the crisis. A proactive strategy is where the organisation takes steps to minimize the first steps of the crisis, such as opening up an emergency enquiry centre for the victims and mobilizing local support teams. An apology is where the crisis manager accepts the responsibility and asks the stakeholders for forgiveness.
The secondary crisis response strategies are also known as bolstering crisis response strategies. A reminder tells stakeholders about the previous good works of the organisations, especially safety records. Imaginations praises stakeholders. Victimage tells the stakeholders that the organization is a victim of the crisis. The factual response tells factual information about the
aircraft miles and engine and pilot miles. There is also a commitment strategy which provides further information as soon as it is available and to fully support fully the investigation, both during the crisis and afterwards, when the findings are released.
According to the IATA document, In some countries, such as Japan and other Asian countries, a formal ‘apology’ is expected from parties involved in an incident which causes damage, regardless of whether they were to blame for the event. In the Malaysian culture, where both of these airlines originate, if they fail to express any sort of sympathy, then there is a strong chance they will be highly criticized in Malaysia. We can therefore hypothesise that:
H1: Press releases from organisations experiencing crises will be more likely to include apologies
Nerb and Spada (1997) believe that the words and sentiments used in the crisis response strategy shape evaluations of the organisational reputation and the future interaction with the company. SCCT predicts how the stakeholders will react to the crisis and which response strategies should be used. Ultimately, as Coombs (2005) states, crisis response strategies have three objectives of protecting reputations: Firstly, to shape attributions of the crisis; Secondly, to change stakeholder opinion of the organisation in crisis; thirdly, to reduce the negative
perceptions of the organisation by stakeholders.
The crucial part of a crisis response strategy is the framing. Crisis managers use the response strategies to establish a frame or reinforce an existing frame. It is pivotal that organisations in the aviation industry understand this because the frames that the news media adopt will be how stakeholders predominantly frame their version of the crisis. Hence, crisis response strategies must present their side of the story to the news media. Thus, how the media frame the crisis is an extremely important consideration. Carroll (2004) believes that if the news
media have stuck to a frame then the crisis response strategies may have to manage within the confines of that frame.
Managers who have had good relationships with their stakeholders previously can point to the goodwill and talk about their previous good doings. In the aviation industry, these are primarily linked to the airline’s safety records. However, it is undeniable that a crisis will create negative attention, indeed that is by nature what a crisis is, especially when it is intentional. According to Coombs (2007), adjusting information and rebuild strategies are the most effective for the organisations. Adjusting information is the expression of concern for the victims. This is corroborated by the IATA document and guidelines which state that this should be one of the airlines main priorities as it helps reduce negative effects. The IATA document also reinforces the belief that there has to be a commitment by the airline to provide further information as soon as it is available. Reinforcing this compassion through compensation and a full apology will,
according to Coombs and Holladay (2005) blunt feelings of anger towards the airline.
Holladay (2009) researches what crisis response strategies are included in media reports. When organisations fail to address a crisis, the media will look for someone who will address, often unconnected to the organisation. Holladay’s study looks at different types of the crisis response strategies and which types appear in the media. The results of Holladay’s study were interesting as they suggest organisations may not be practicing effective media relations as their statements weren’t really featured in the reports.
Interestingly, Holladay states that the media may not really be operating in the way that PR experts had assumed, for example believing that the media need statements from the
organisations. In theory, Holladay believes that organisations’ instructing information, which is so crucial in crisis communication, would mean that active participation in the crisis framing
process which would have a positive influence on how the media report the crisis. Additionally, in terms of the rebuild strategy, the literature suggests that in fact there has to be some sort of commitment given by the airlines to help with the investigation and to help investigators with the cause of the incident. Linked with the proactive strategy of the primary crisis response strategy and the commitment strategy of the secondary response strategy we therefore hypothesise that:
H2a: An organisation’s primary crisis response strategy is likely to involve instructing information by way of informing the media what the organisation is currently doing.
H2b: An organisations secondary crisis response strategy is likely to involve committing the media to helping any external investigations and pledge to release further information as
soon as it is available.
When a crisis response strategy is picked, this is as a result of the framing and the news agenda. It could also be that the media prefer other sources, such as first hand responders.
However, understanding how to increase the likelihood of the crisis response strategies is crucial. 2.1 News items. Schafraad, Van Zoonen & Verhoeven (2015) studied how the likelihood of press releases being included in the media depended upon different factors. Their study showed that news factors surprise, controversy, impact negative consequences and elite
organisation increase a press releases’ chance of succession. This is related to agenda building. This is defined by Weaver and Elliot (1985) as ‘how the press interacts with other institutions in society to create issues of public concern’. Organisations are crucial to agenda building of the media as they supply them with information subsidies, such as press releases.
Schafraad et al (2015) use news factor theory, devised by Galting and Ruge (1965) and revised by Harcup & O’Neill (2001) to see if the press releases of organisations are newsworthy. There is often competition between individuals and organisations as to who should be selected in
the news media. Crucially, there is a concept called the information subsidy, which Gandy (1982) states that agenda building is constructed using the information provided by organisations in the form of spokespersons and press releases. Kiousis, Popescu and Mitrook (2007) iterate that press releases are actually extremely important in the process of agenda building.
News selection is crucial to understanding agenda building. This research will build upon Galtung and Ruge’s (1965) news factor theory which states that events and issues possess certain characteristics (news factors) that determine their newsworthiness, which is a judgment that is made by the journalists themselves. Eilders (2006) believes that these news values are reflected in the selection related to the events by the news media. Essentially, news factors really help journalists, much like a catalogue for selecting which news event or issue is important. This research also builds upon Kroon and Schafraad’s (2013) and Schafraad, Van Zoonen and Verhoeven’s (2015) research which identifies the following as important news factors: surprise; controversy; impact reach; positive and negative consequences; elite/ prominent persons and dynamics. By using these as a construction of events, we should be able to determine the agenda building influence of press releases. One particular news factor that is of relevance to the
organisations is the news factor ‘elite people’. Harcup and O’Neill (2001) describe elite persons’ news factor as referring to the ‘actions and words of elite people’ and iterate that elite people ‘may be seen by news selectors as having more consequence than the actions of others’ (p.263). Galtung and Ruge (1965) believe in their research that elite people actually was the second most prominent news factor out of 12 that had been examined. They were identified as those who were politically powerful and those in positions of authority. For this research, that would extend to the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes; the then CEO of Malaysia Airlines, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya and corporate spokespeople for both organisations. We would expect that a reference to both elite
people would increase the likelihood of a press release being included because we believe that if the media outlet had selected the elite persons, then they would follow this up with a statement connected to their institution in the form of a press release. We therefore hypothesise that:
H3: The most prominent news factor will be reference to elite people compared to other news factors.
Relating to the aforementioned hypothesis, the belief is held that the sender of the press release is also considered relevant and this research will build upon Schafraad et al (2015) research that the eliteness of the corporation as a news factor. The eliteness of the corporation is defined as its potential economic influence in a given society. It is measured by the Skytrax World Airline Awards. These awards were created in 1999 and are held in high regard due to its independence and the clarity of the process. They are based on 18.89 million customer service surveys and it covers 245 airlines. It is the most respected global airline passenger survey, which contributes to the eliteness of the organisation in the aviation field. In 2014, there were
differences between the two airlines. Malaysia Airlines was placed 18th on the list, whereas AirAsia was ranked 31st on the same list. As a result, from our definition, Malaysia Airlines is a more elite organisation and we would expect the greater media attention to be on Malaysian airlines. We hypothesise that:
H4: The higher the position on the World Airline Awards List, the greater the chance of more media attention based on their press releases.
2.2 Framing. Framing as a concept has gained momentum for crisis communication studies recently. It is defined by Entman (2003) as a concept which ‘entails selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues, and making connections among them so as to promote a particular interepation, evaluation or solution.’ (p.416) Essentially, the news media
‘frame’ issues in a certain way to give their interpretation of the event. For crises, this means that for organisations, the news media shape how the public think through the idea of framing. Valenti and Romenti (2011) state that by shaping public opinion ‘the media contribute to increased public attention to specific situations and actions and/or organisations behaviours.’ (p.361) As a result, events can be framed in such a way that gives the audience signs to approve or disapprove the organisation. In crises, framing is extremely important because the news media can ultimately help to destroy an organisation’s reputation by stating that they are culpable for the crisis.
This research into framing builds upon Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) findings that the media framing is determined depending on which country they operate in. However, their research did not include a media system model for South East Asian countries, in this case Malaysia. It did identify that the UK media system belonged to a media system called the liberal model. However, building upon the research of Hallin and Mancini (2004), this research paper posits that there will be a difference in the framing of the UK and Malaysian news media. This will be further explained later on in the research paper.
In order to continue the research, it is imperative to establish the actual frames used by the news media. This research paper will utilise the frames that were used in Semtko and Valkenburg’s (2000) study. There is an investigation of the occurrences of different frames that have been discussed in previous literature; these frames largely account for all the frames used in the media. The five most common frames are as follows: conflict frame; human-interest frame; economic consequences frame; morality frame and responsibility frame.
Conflict frame. Neuman, Just and Crigler (1992) state how this frame emphasizes conflict between individuals, groups or institutions as a means of retaining the interest of the audience. A
limitation of the conflict frame is that it can lead to an oversimplification of the crisis due to reducing it to a simplistic conflict. The reason why the conflict frame can be so prevalent is because, during a crisis, there is a tendency to find the culpable party or parties. As a result, the search for culpability can very often lead to conflict, in this case, who was responsible for the crashes of both Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and AirAsia Flight 8501. Due to the frequent use of this frame, Patterson (1993) believes that this results in a higher public cynicism of
explanations regarding conflict.
Human-interest frame. Neuman et al (1992) regard this frame as the human impact frame. This frame brings a human face or an emotional angle to the presentation of an event, issue or problem. Bennett (1995) believes that the news media need more ways to capture and keep interest. Providing a human face to the news or ‘emotionalising’ the news is one such way of achieving the audience’s interest, as the audience will feel a connection with those affected.
Economic consequences. The frame reports an event in terms of the consequences it will produce economically on an individual group, region or country. A crucial perspective of the frame is the economic consequences on a wider scale. For both flights, we would posit that there will be a focus upon the consequences for the organisation, but also for the wider region of South East Asia, where both of the airlines are from. Aviation crises are often seen with this frame, as they can have wider implications for so many related individuals and organisations.
Morality frame. This frame puts the event, problem or issue in the context of moral prescriptions. Due to journalistic professionalism, which is predominantly objectivism, journalists themselves will seldom explicitly explore the morality of an event. They may, however, use indirect quotes from other individuals to infer a message. Neuman et al (1992)
identify that this often happens through the use of quoting interest groups to promote a certain message that the journalists themselves feel unable to directly identify with.
Responsibility frame. Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) define this frame as presenting an issue or problem in such a way as to attribute responsibility for its cause to the government, an individual or group. This also includes discussion regarding culpability. Iyengar (1987) identifies another element to the responsibility framing - that it is split into episodic and thematic contexts. Episodic responsibility refers to the specific event, issue or individual, whereas the thematic context places the news event in terms of the larger historical social context. In this research, the episodic responsibility would focus upon just the incident itself, whereas the thematic frame would see the event being placed in a wider context. This wider context could include damage to the aviation industry, and questions regarding the flight equipment safety inspections or, in the case of Flight MH17, the choice of flight pathways.
Altschull (1979) believes that news coverage of aviation crises often treats them as international affairs due to the high number of different nationalities on board an aircraft, causing journalists to engage with ethnocentric reporting. This is done in order to paint the best possible picture of themselves to the international scene. In this instance, focusing on the specific episode could highlight how well the natives did in their effort to save the flight, or focus on the people on board the flight and the native characters on board. Foreign newspapers should have a more objective view of the incident, and be less subject to the ethnocentrism that plagues the native newspapers. By taking an objective view, this research paper posits that this would require placing the crisis in a thematic angle in terms of aviation safety, and the choice of flight pathways. Therefore, we hypothesise that:
H5: We expect the international press to focus upon the thematic angle whereas the native press would focus on an episodic angle.
Interestingly, framing can be seen as being on a macro-level of influence, especially when comparing countries. Vilegenthart and Van Zoonen (2011) argue that national media systems and news cultures affect news frames. Indeed, Stromback and Van Aelst (2010) in their research find that there is a difference between news frames of Swedish commercial and public TV news, but the same cannot be said for Belgium. They note that certain framing is present in Sweden but the same framing is not present in Belgium. As a result, they associate the
differences to both the media system and the political system.
The differences in international and native media is something that has been researched by Romenti and Valentini (2011). They studied the Alitalia crisis in 2008 and how there were differences between the Italian (domestic) press and the international (international) press. Their study found that the international press focused more upon the attribution of responsibility than the native press, which preferred the conflict frame. This research paper will build upon this research by positing that there will be a difference between Malaysian (domestic) newspapers and UK (international) newspapers. As Romenti and Valentini stated, the Italian (domestic) press were interested in the ‘political sensationalism’, and also focused more upon the employees and passengers of the crisis, due to the proximity of the crisis. We therefore expect Malaysian newspapers to behave roughly the same as the Italian press in regards to the crisis, and focus more on human interest and the conflict frame. In contrast, the International press would focus more upon the attribution of responsibility frame. We therefore hypothesise that:
H6: The native press will focus upon the human-interest frame whereas the foreign press will focus upon the attribution of responsibility frame.
3. Methodology.
3.1 Design. The aim of this study is to examine whether press releases were succeeded in the news print media and so the decision was made to conduct a quantitative content analysis. According to Berelson (1952) content analysis is defined as ‘a research technique for the
objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.’ As a result of this, the decision was made to use content analysis in this research paper.
Four newspapers were selected for analysis. They were Malaysian Reserve, The New Strait Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times. For the dataset that was created, the articles were coded by using the codebook (see appendix B). This codebook was adapted with some small additions and alterations from the codebook used by Pajor and Schafraad (2013) and attempts to build upon their research.
The press releases from both Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia were collected from the corporate websites of both companies. For Malaysia Airlines, press releases relating to Flight MH17 totaled 16. For AirAsia, the total number of press releases relating to Flight QZ8501 was 63. As a result of the aforementioned press releases, the articles that were then selected were 16 out of 16 press releases for Malaysia Airlines. 32 out of 63 press releases were selected from AirAsia, with those articles being selected from a 50% systematic sample. Riffe, Lacy and Fico (2014) define this as selecting every nth unit from a sampling frame. The particular number is determined by dividing the sampling frame size by the sample size, which in this research paper meant we would select every odd press release when they were numbered from 1 to 63. This was selected because, according to Riffe et al (2014) it is a much better sampling procedure than random sampling as this can cause problems.
Once the press releases were selected, then all relevant articles were coded the next two days after the press release was issued which was to give ample opportunity for the organisations press release to be included in the print media. This research paper used LexisNexis to download all articles using the search terms ‘MH17’ and ‘QZ8501’. After downloading the articles, we were then left with the final dataset, which could be coded. LexisNexis also included letters written by the public to the editor of the newspaper. These were not included on the grounds that they came with the disclaimer: ‘please note that letters represent the opinion of the readers and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the newspaper.’ Given the criteria that we used to code articles, the final sample size was as follows: Malaysian Reserve had 12 articles regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and 17 regarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The New Strait Times had 177 articles regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and 66 regarding AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The Guardian had 108 articles regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and 12 for AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The Financial Times had 53 articles regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and 26 regarding AirAsia flight QZ8501. This gave us a total sample size of 471 articles coded.
3.2 Measures. The variables throughout this research were measured by one coder who coded the articles by answering 14 questions from the codebook. The coder was under strict
instructions to read the whole article thoroughly in order to answer the questions. It was
imperative that the coder followed the instructions carefully and to explicitly code what is stated in the article, which meant no assumptions were drawn by the coder in relation to the article content.
The type of message was identified as to whether there was a press release mentioned in the article or not. The coder then had to decide whether there had been a reference to
documented information subsidy. A decision was then made to conclude whether it had been a reference to the documented information subsidy only or if there were other sources of
information such as phone calls or follow up information. The coder then had to identify whether it was a corporate spokesperson for either Malaysia Airlines or for AirAsia. The other referred to the Malaysian government and also other government’s spokespersons. The coder then has to identify which newspaper the article came from, with the options being The Guardian, The Financial times, The New Strait Times and the Malaysian Reserve. The date and the total word count were also coded.
3.3Reliability. This research paper was undertaken by one student researcher. As a result, the intra-coder reliability had to be measured. This was done by recoding the first 10% of the news articles. A total of 47 articles were then recoded and then compared to the first coding. After the coding was done, the percentage of agreement was calculated. The results were as follows: the percentage of agreement ranged from 79% to 100% (Appendix A: table 1 and table 2). According to Neuendorf (2002), the levels of agreement can be concluded as sufficient.
4. Results. Table 1 provides us with a breakdown of press releases and primary crisis communication strategies. The Denial strategy was not used by either Malaysia Airlines or AirAsia.
Table 1 – Primary crisis response strategies Primary crisis response strategies Malaysia Airlines AirAsia Attack the accuser - 4% (2) Scapegoat 3% (1) - Excuse 11% (3) 5% (3) Justification 31% (9) 12% (7) Compensation 24% (7) 4% (2) Apology 7% (2) 21% (12)
Proactive 24% (7) 54% (31) n Total Average per Press Release 21 29 1.4 44 57 1.3 Note: The Denial strategy was not used in any press releases.
The first analysis was used to see whether an apology strategy was used more often than other crisis response strategies. This was conducted by doing a McNemar test comparing the apology strategy to each of the other strategies. The apology strategy had 14 counts in the press releases. The first strategy it was compared with was the attack the accuser strategy. This strategy had 2 counts with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. The denial strategy had zero counts. The scapegoat strategy had 1 count with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. The excuse strategy had 6 counts with a McNemar test significance of P=.115. The justification strategy had 16 counts and the McNemar test significance of P=.856. The compensation response strategy had 9 counts and the McNemar test significance was P=.383. The proactive strategy had 38 counts and a significance of P<.005. The hypothesis is therefore rejected: Press releases from organisations experiencing crises will be more likely to include apologies than other strategies. This was because the apology strategy was not the most used crisis response strategy. However, it is important to note that it was the second most common strategy for AirAsia and the third most common strategy in total.
The second analysis was similar to the first and was used to see whether a proactive strategy was used more than other crisis response strategies. This was done by conducting a McNemar test comparing the proactive strategy to each of the other strategies. The proactive strategy had 38 counts. We then compared this to the other crisis response strategies. Attack the accuser had 2 counts, with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. Denial strategy had 0 counts.
Scapegoat had 1 count with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. The excuse strategy had 6 counts with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. The justification strategy had 16 counts with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. The compensation strategy had 9 counts with a
McNemar test significance of P<.005. The apology strategy had 14 counts with a McNemar test significance of P<.005. As a result, our hypothesis is accepted: An organisation’s primary crisis response strategy is likely to involve instructing information by way of informing the media what the organization is currently doing. The proactive strategy was the most used strategy by the organisations. Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia both used the justification crisis communication strategy frequently with it being deployed 16 times in total. Malaysia Airlines used it 9 times and AirAsia used it 7 times. AirAsia was the only organization to use the attack the accuser strategy (2 times) and Malaysia Airlines was the only organization to use the scapegoat strategy (1 time). Interestingly, even though AirAsia had more press releases included, both organisations were very similar when it came to the average number of crisis communication strategies per press release. Malaysia Airlines had 1.4 crisis communication strategies per press release whereas AirAsia had 1.3.
Table 2 provides us with a breakdown of secondary crisis communication strategies. Table 2 – Secondary crisis response strategies.
Secondary crisis response strategies Malaysia Airlines AirAsia Reminder 10% (2) 11% (5) Imagination - 4% (2) Victimage 5% (1) 2% (1) Justification 61% (13) 11% (5) Commitment 24% (5) 72% (33) n Total Average per Press Release 21 21 1 44 46 1.05
The third analysis was conducted to see whether a commitment secondary crisis communication strategy was used more than the other secondary crisis communication strategy. The commitment strategy had 38 counts. We then compared this to the other crisis response strategies. Reminder had 7 counts, with the McNemar test significance of p<.005. Imagination had 2 counts, with a McNemar test significance of p<.005. Victimage had 2 counts, with a McNemar test significance of p<.005. Finally, justification had 18 counts, with a McNemar test significance of p=.006. As a result, our hypothesis is accepted: An organisations secondary crisis response strategy is likely to involve committing the media to helping any external investigations and pledge to release further information as soon as it is available.
AirAsia was the only organization to use the imagination strategy (2 times). However, Malaysia Airlines used the justification strategy (13 times) more than AirAsia (5 times). The biggest difference in secondary crisis communication strategy use is through the commitment strategy. Malaysia Airlines used this 5 times, whereas AirAsia used it 33 times. However, both organisations had very similar average strategy use per press release with Malaysia Airlines having an average of 1 and AirAsia averaging 1.05.
The fourth analysis was conducted to see whether the news factor ‘elite persons’ was the most prominent news factor. This was undertaken by doing a McNemar test comparing the news factor ‘elite people’ to the other news factors. The elite person news factor had 199 counts in the 468 articles. The first news factor this was compared with was surprise. This strategy had 380 counts with a McNemar test significance of p<.005. The controversy news factor had 222 counts with a McNemar test significance of P=.106. The impact reach news factor had 30 counts with a McNemar significance of p<.005. The positive consequences news factor had 55 counts with a
McNemar test significance of p<.005. Negative consequences news factor had 370 counts and a McNemar test significance of p<.005. Prominent persons had a count of 248 with a McNemar test significance of p=.019. Finally, dynamics had 6 counts, with a McNemar test significance of p<.005. The news factor ‘elite persons’ is not the most prominent and as a result, hypothesis 3 is rejected: The most prominent news factor will be reference to elite people compared to other news factors.
For our fifth analysis, we wanted to establish whether being higher on the World’s Airline
Awards resulted in a higher rate of succession for the organisation’s press releases. As previously established, in 2014 Malaysia Airlines were 18th in the rankings whereas AirAsia were 31st in the rankings. As a result, we would expect Malaysia Airlines to have more press releases in the media due to them being a more elite organisation based on the World’s Airline Awards.
However, this was not the case. In the total content analysis, 65 press releases were included in 466 articles. 21 press releases were from Malaysia Airlines (32%) and 44 press releases were from AirAsia (68%). In this study, it does not matter what position the organisation is on the World’s Airline Awards list as it will not significantly increase the chance of generating more media attention based on press releases. As a result, the hypothesis is rejected: The higher the position on the World Airlines Award list, the greater the chance of more media attention based on their press releases.
Table 3 – Article angle difference between native and foreign press. Article angle Native press Foreign press
Episodic 60% (160) 36% (72)
Thematic 40% (106) 64% (128)
The sixth analysis conducted was to see whether there would be a difference between the native and the foreign press when it came to thematic and episodic differences. The hypothesis posited that the native press would focus more upon the episodic angle whereas the foreign press would focus more upon the thematic angle. We conducted a chi-square test and after doing so we found that the article angle that a newspaper takes is linked to the country of the newspapers origin, X2 (1) = 26.634, p<.001. Cramer’s V also stated that there was a small effect (d=.239), which actually suggests that the newspapers country of origin actually has a small effect on the angle which newspapers take. As a result, we can confirm our hypothesis is accepted: We expect the international press to focus upon the thematic angle whereas the native press would focus on an episodic angle.
For the English newspapers, the most dominant angle taken was the thematic angle with 64% of articles focusing on that. The episodic angle made up the remaining 36% of articles in English newspapers. The Malaysian newspapers, by contrast, focused more upon the episodic angle with 60.2% of articles focusing upon that and 39.8% of articles focusing choosing the thematic angle.
Table 4 – Comparison between dominant frame of native press and foreign press. Dominant frame Native press Foreign press
Conflict 3.8% (10) 25.5% (51) Human interest 33.5% (89) 14% (28) Economic consequences 15% (40) 13% (26) Morality 13.2% (35) 13% (26) Responsibility 34.6% (92) 34.5% (69) Total 266 200
The seventh analysis conducted was to see whether there would be a difference between the native and foreign press when it came to framing. The hypothesis posited that the native press
would focus more upon the human-interest frame. We conducted a Chi-square test and after doing so we found that the dominant frames in the newspaper articles are actually linked to the country of the newspaper’s country of origin, X2 (4) = 58.775, p<.001. Cramer’s V also stated that there was a small effect (d=.355), which actually suggests that the newspapers country of origin actually has a small effect on the framing which newspapers conduct. As a result, we can confirm that our hypothesis is accepted: The native press will focus upon the human-interest frame whereas the foreign press will focus upon the attribution of responsibility frame.
For the English newspapers, the most dominant frame was the responsibility frame (34.5%), the conflict frame was second (25.5%), the human interest frame (14%) was third and the economic consequences and morality frame both had 13% each of the remaining coverage by English newspapers. The Malaysian newspapers focused heavily on the human-interest frame (33.5%) and was second only to the responsibility frame (34.6%). Economic consequences was the third most dominant frame (15%), morality frame (13.2%) was fourth and the least used dominant frame was the conflict frame (3.8%). These findings provide some sense of direction in which future research should go and will be explored further in the discussion and conclusion. 5. Conclusion. In order to discuss the theory in greater depth and explore to what extent we build upon previous research, this research paper aimed to see how crisis communication
strategies were reported on in the media and to discuss the use of media framing in general to see if there was a difference reporting on crises from two different countries.
Garcia (2011) states that crisis management theory has remained largely ethnocentric, which is predominantly rooted in American theory and that it, should be practiced as a two-way symmetrical communication. This naturally presents problems, especially as both these
difference between not just the amount but also the actual strategies used. Tony Fernandes was hailed for his media performances, as he kept everyone informed and accepted responsibility. He stated that ‘I am the leader of this company; I take responsibility.’ He further iterated that ‘The passengers were on my aircraft and I have to take responsibility for that.’ We can establish from this that Tony Fernandes learnt his crisis communication strategy from the two- way symmetrical model by keeping people informed and updated. The ethnocentricity of PR clearly applies to AirAsia. The two most common strategies for AirAsia were apology and proactivity. Tony Fernandes made the press releases seem genuine and truthful. It was commented by many in the media that his crisis communication was excellent. The families and friends of those on board flight 8501 appreciated the updates that Tony Fernandes gave via his proactive strategy.
On the other hand, Malaysia Airlines is a very different organization when it comes to its crisis communication strategy. Indeed, the total number of press releases was lower for its crisis than AirAsia's. However, this may have been due to the primary media attention not being on the airline itself. Instead, especially for UK newspapers, there was a real focus on the attribution of responsibility frame. For Malaysia Airlines, the main concern was who shot down the plane, with it being either the Russian rebels in the region or Ukrainian government forces. Interestingly for Malaysia Airlines, their primary crisis response strategy was justification, which minimises the damage caused by the crisis, and rebuilding through it. It is interesting that the excuse strategy was not used as much, which would minimise the responsibility for the crisis, as plenty of media coverage argued that the events were beyond Malaysia Airline’s control. It could have used the justification strategy to rebuild its image especially at the time of the crisis; no sign of a previous Flight, MH370 had appeared, a carrier, which had disappeared without a trace over the Indian Ocean. As a result, Malaysia Airlines still responded with its press releases in time, with Coombs
(2007) stating that a response has to be within one hour of the crisis. However, the quantity of press releases differed between Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia, with the latter being praised by communication experts for its quick updates and Tony Fernandes’ personal touch with the media. This is opposed to Malaysia Airlines, which simply did not have the same intensity and
promptness for updating its stakeholders about the unfolding crisis.
This research also shows that, in the aviation industry at least, the eliteness of the organisation does not necessarily mean more media coverage. Indeed, AirAsia, which was considered the less elite organisation compared with the Malaysian national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, generated more media coverage. One of the reasons for this particular anomaly might be due to the actual content itself: this study corroborates with Schafraad, Van Zoonen & Verhoeven (2015) that the content of the press releases really does increase the chance of it being included in the media. In this study, in terms of the aviation industry, for primary crisis response strategies, the inclusion of justification, apology and proactivity significantly increase an organisation's chances of having a press release included in the news media. Additionally, for the secondary crisis response strategies, justification and commitment are the two strategies that significantly increase an organisation's chances of being included in the news media.
The research also found that certain news factors provide explanations as to what is printed in the news media. Naturally, for crises, negative consequences, controversy and surprise were two key news factors. These corroborate with Schafraad, Van Zoonen & Verhoeven’s (2015) study that comes to the same conclusion. Organisations must therefore see if they can establish a link between the press releases and news factors, and if there is some way to
crisis communication experts in the aviation industry. Maier & Ruhrmann (2008) posit that this may be influential as well. This research paper certainly lays down the foundations for
investigating news media outlet trends and the more effective crisis communication strategies. However, to really establish the full effectiveness of the strategies, qualitative study is needed. Additionally, we were unable to see whether or not there were news factors present in the press releases, and this is an area that future research could develop.
Our results also present interesting reading in regards to the framing difference in country. The findings suggest that native newspapers will be more concerned with the human interest frame and episodic angle, much like what Valenti and Romenti (2011) suggest. This research paper posits that this is common for news media outlets to do. Indeed, the notion of concentrating on ‘our’ collective problems, in this case a crisis to national organisations has been an idea and reality for many years. Even with the Malaysia Airlines case, in which to date no party has been identified as responsible, the Malaysian newspapers did not look for culpability by asking aggressive questions or finger pointing. Instead, they cautiously stated that they would wait for investigations to be conducted and would accept the finding’s results. Instead, the native press acted as previous research has predicted, with focus heavily being on the human cost of the crisis. The foreign press, however, took a very different approach. The crisis itself was secondary to the thematic angle of the crisis. ‘EU to rethink Russian relations in wake of MH17 tragedy’ and ‘Kerry lays out evidence of Pro-Russia separatists responsibility’ and similar statements were iterated repeatedly by the British foreign press. There was very little coverage upon any human-interest story, perhaps because not many of the victims of the crises were of British nationality. Instead, as Iyengar (1987) predicted, the attribution of responsibility was the
again, sought answers and searched for culpability on these issues. Perhaps due to the closer geographical proximity to the Malaysia Airlines crisis and the fact that the airline flew over the same route that many British airlines fly over, the press strived for answers. Additionally, as the human-interest frame was less important for the AirAsia crisis, the responsibility frame was used again to see if it could have been prevented.
The ‘standpoint theory’ could go some way to explaining the differences between the country’s newspapers differences in framing of the two crises. According to Wood (1997), this assumes that the material, social and symbolic circumstances of a social group shape what its members experience, as well as how they think, act and feel. As a result, when applied to the news media, there is a definite mark of ethnocentrism. The feeling of ‘our’ Malaysia Airlines, which is the national airline of Malaysia, combined with the high number of Malaysian fatalities from the two crises, this ethnocentrism translated into the human interest frame, reporting on the fatalities that were close to home geographically, with this being Malaysian and Indonesian nationalities.
There is another factor that could explain the framing of the two crises. Severin and Tankard (1988) note that there is a symbiotic relationship of the national media with the native people. This is explained further as people want to hear about matters close to them and so the media try and frame their stories in order to do so. Thus, the human-interest frame is more concerning for them rather than the conflict frame of the conflict they are involved in. This is in contrast to the British media whose key frame was the responsibility frame as the conflict is seen as ‘closer’ to the British people. This is because it is felt that the readers will engage with articles regarding acts of aggression from Russia, to whom the British government were allies of
down over. Likewise, AirAsia flight 8501 was focused on the responsibility frame as the media may think that the only relatable aspect for their readers would be the safety of the aviation industry and whether this could happen ‘to them’. This meant finding responsibility, whether it was a mechanical failure or a pilot error. This also goes some way to explaining the thematic angle of the British newspapers.
By conducting the research in this study, we also gained relevant insights for crisis communication and Public Relations. There should be a focus upon quicker
communication and templates for providing soundbites to the media, especially for a crisis in the aviation industry. By using the results from this study - that a proactive primary crisis response strategy and committing themselves to further investigations as part of a secondary crisis
response strategy is effective, organisations can understand the best way to have the press release succeed in the media. However, this also links to a future research recommendation in the use of social media. The IATA document (2014) suggests that now, perhaps more than ever, social media is crucial for organisations to respond quickly. It states: ‘once the story breaks on social media, the opportunity to provide factual information and influence the developing narrative is reduced to minutes.’ (p.4) It is now imperative that organisations respond swiftly on social media. Indeed, the IATA document (2014) iterates that otherwise the results could be disastrous with the airline being ‘perceived as disorganized or floundering in its response’ (p.5) Future research could study the effects of social media statements from organisations, and follow their social media accounts in order to research the crisis response strategies more thoroughly. 5.1 Limitations. Naturally, there were some limitations with this study. Primarily, the biggest limitation was the number of items used for the measurements in the codebook. Even though the codebook was adapted by Pajor and Schafraad (2013), more measures could be used in further
research to give a more in depth analysis of crisis communication strategies. However, the codebook that was utilized in this study was still applicable and relevant.
Another limitation of the study relates to the idea of the content analysis method used to analyse data in this study. Bryman (2012) identifies that it is impossible to devise coding
manuals that do no entail some interpretation on the part of coders. Even though the greatest efforts were made to ensure that the codebook was to reduce the interpretability, the point is still valid that some interpretation from each coder is almost inevitable. Since the coding was
undertaken by just one person, a limitation could be that another coder’s interpretation of the same material could vary slightly. Bryman (2012) also iterates that content analysis makes it difficult to ascertain the answers to ‘why?’ questions through content analysis and quite often the answers are speculations. Future research could help with this research paper by undertaking additional data. Collection exercises, such as qualitative researches in the form of interviews with journalists and crisis communication experts at these organisations could help with that.
Linked with the aforementioned limitation, it is important to understand that this research paper only conducted a content analysis with newspaper articles. This is a limitation because essentially a journalist needs to sell newspapers. Thus, there is a tendency to ‘sensationalise’ the news to make it more exciting and as a result sell more newspapers. Research suggests that journalists will leave out some information in order to give readers ‘excitement’ when reading the news. This leads Cho and Gover (2006) to iterate that this sensationalism will stimulate the psychological pulse and affect the public’s perceptions more negatively towards actors concerned with the event. As a result, distortion could occur with the content analysis of these articles.
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Appendix A: Measures of reliability Reliability Measures
Table 1
Crisis response strategy % Agreement Message type 100
Other source 96
Attack the accuser 98
Scapegoat 98 Excuse 98 Justification 89 Compensation 96 Apology 92 Proactive 96 Reminder 96 Imagination 94 Victimage 96 Justification 96 Commitment 89
Note: a) Cohen’s Kappa was not calculated due to complete agreement
Table 2
News factors and framing types % Agreement
Surprise 79
Controversy 85
