Abstract
Research on crisis communication strategies has been one sided, focusing mostly on either press releases or media coverage of a single organization. In this research we set out to provide new insights by studying crisis communication strategies in both press releases and news items of multiple actors involved in the Fyra-case. By conducting a content analysis of press releases and news items, we were able to answer questions on which crisis communication strategies the actors use in press releases about the issue and which of these strategies appear most in the different news media. We found that references in news items to press releases were scarce, but references to spokespersons were more frequent. Coverage of crisis communication strategies differed per actor and per medium, though no differences between offline and online media were found. By integrating different theoretical concepts we presented a new foundation for the concept of issue arenas and by analyzing statements of different actors in news items we visualized this concept. Based on our findings, we argue that research on corporate communication should move away from the centrality of the organization towards a more dynamic view in which the issue takes a central place. Further implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed.
Introduction
In financially hard times, an organization has to be extra careful when handling a case of
negative publicity. Accidents cannot always be prevented, and when they happen, one wrong move can do tremendous damage to an organization’s reputation. In a crisis situation, getting
the right crisis communication strategy covered by news media can prevent major
reputational damage and sometimes even save jobs, indicating the need for research on the
selection and effects of crisis communication strategies in the media.
Research on the use and effects of crisis communication strategies has grown
steadily over the past few years, with studies focusing on diverse issues from categorization
of the used strategies (Allen & Caillouet, 1994; Benoit, 1997; Coombs, 1995) to the actual use of strategies according to situation (Coombs & Holladay, 1996; 2001), comparison of
used strategies across countries and cultures (Garcia, 2011; Lyu, 2012) and in different
media (Liu, Austin & Jin, 2011; Schult, Utz & Göritz, 2011). Despite the overall accepted
notion that the public receives its information from the media, research on this process of
information distribution from corporate actor via media to public is scarce. Research on crisis
communication strategies takes the approach of analyzing either only press releases (Schultz & Raupp, 2010) or only news items (Lyu, 2012; Schult, Utz & Göritz, 2011). In line
with Holladay (2009) this study argues that, in order to gain better insights in the practice of
public relations (PR) professionals, it is necessary to study both the strategies used in press
releases and how these strategies are subsequently covered by the news media.
However, continuing research on organizations and their strategies alone would do no
right to a growing movement challenging another shortcoming in current research on crisis
communication: the perspective of an organization as the center of the communication (e.g.
Allen & Caillouet, 1994; Coombs, 2007; Holladay, 2009). This perspective has been
contested by some authors who argue the organization should be considered one actor
amongst others on a specific issue (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2009; 2010; Schultz & Raupp, 2010).
Where Schultz and Raupp (2010) state that crisis communication should be viewed more as ‘processional' and including other actors who all shape reality in their own way, Luoma-Aho
and Vos (2009; 2010) go further by stating organizations are actors in so called ‘issue
arenas' that involve all stakeholders who communicate views that can both endorse or
contradict the view of the organization. Such perspective sheds a radically different light on
the practice of PR and on further research on crisis communication.
In this study we attempt to contribute to current research on crisis communication in
multiple ways. First by adding to the work of Holladay (2009) by analyzing the use of
strategies in both press releases and news items. Secondly, an essential contribution is made by exploring the concept of ‘issue arenas' of Luoma-Aho and Vos (2009) and showing
support for this concept by integrating multiple theories and perspectives from previous
(De Ridder, 1994) to test the assumption of issue arenas as shaped by the media as a result
of corporate crisis communication.
Subject of study is the Fyra-case, an international high-speed train that was meant to
connect important Dutch and Belgian cities. A content analysis of press releases of four
different actors and news items from four major Dutch newspapers and two Dutch news sites is used to answer questions on which crisis communication strategies the actors use in press
releases about the issue and which crisis communication strategies of which actors appear
most in which news media. Answers to these questions can help mapping actor relations as
displayed in the news items. An interview with one of the main actors in the issue provides
even more insights in the process of information distribution and competition among actors
for media attention.
We start with an exploration of literature on crisis communication strategies, issue
arenas and media relations. Then we elaborate on the research design, followed by the
results. To conclude, we discuss the findings in this study and provide recommendations for
research and practice.
Crisis communication strategies
A crisis is an unexpected event that threatens to disrupt an organization's operations and
poses a financial and a reputational threat (Coombs, 2007). Organizational reputation is,
along with organizational legitimacy, a concept that represents an assessment of an
organization by a social system (Deephouse & Carter, 2005) and can be defined as how an
organization is perceived by its publics, based on its past behaviors (Coombs, 2006; 2007).
When a crisis occurs, an organization can try to protect its image and reputation by using
communication strategies to influence the discourse about the organization (Coombs, 2006).
Research on crisis communication has its roots in attribution theory and impression
management, two concepts that have a longer history of research (Allan & Caillouet, 1994;
Bradford & Garrett, 1995; Coombs, 1995). Attribution theory is based on the idea that individuals make inferences in a situation about the cause of that situation. As a result, in a
crisis situation people are likely to attribute responsibility to a person or organization and
connect a positive or negative emotional reaction to that attribution (Coombs, 2007).
Impression management then is the strategic communication organizations use to influence
the discourse as to control the attribution of responsibility to the organization (Allan &
Caillouet, 1994).
At first, crisis communication strategies were analyzed by making categorizations
based on case-studies, which resulted in lists with up to twenty different strategies that could
be used according to the situation (e.g. Allan & Caillouet, 1994; Bradford & Garrett, 1995).
Coombs (1995) deduced five categories from these studies, containing a total of sixteen
strategies. The five categories were nonexistence, distance, ingratiation, mortification and
suffering (Coombs, 1995, p. 450). These five categories formed the fundament of research on crisis communication strategies, although several adjustments have been made through
the years.
For instance, some researchers adjusted the number of categories and total number
of strategies (Benoit, 1997; Coombs, 1998; 2006; 2007). Later, Coombs (2006) limited the
number of strategies to ten in three categories: denial, diminish and deal, ranging from
defensive to accommodative. The first category, denial, consists of strategies that deny the
responsibility for the crisis at hand. Some examples are to deny the crisis by saying there
simply is none, or to accuse the ones that accuse the organization of being responsible.
Other common strategies in this category are to blame another party for the crisis or to blame
a minority group inside the organization that has acted without the consent of the
organization itself. The second category, diminish, aims to reduce the (potential) damage of
the crisis, for example by justifying the actions of the organization and stating the victims
deserved what happened to them, or by reminding the public of past good deeds of the
organization. Deal, the third category, deals with the crisis, for example by apologizing,
promising corrective actions to be taken or offering some sort of compensation.
The number of strategies and categories used in studies vary and are dependent on choices made in the research processes. Some authors have added a fourth category or
divided strategies by adding more specific details to coding. Consensus appears to have
been reached however that the amount of strategies used in the study is determined by the
researcher and should not be up to discussion (Benoit, 1997; Coombs, 2006), for it is
dependent on the amount of detail that is wanted to answer the research questions.
In the present study we take a detailed approach based on the work of Pajor and Schafraad (2013), covering nineteen different strategies across four categories. A substantial
body of research on crisis communication strategies has focused on the crisis type that
determines the strategy of choice (Coombs, 1998, 2006; Coombs & Holladay, 1996). Crisis
types are especially important for the appliance of crisis communication strategies in
practice, however in the present study the focus is on the way in which strategies are copied
by the news media and not on whether these strategies are appropriate for the situation.
Therefore these crisis types will not be part of the current study.
There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of crisis communication
strategies (Kim, Avery & Lariscy, 2009). Results vary from cultural differences in strategies
used and anticipated effectiveness (Garcia, 2011), the most accepted strategies depending
on the channel used (Liu, Austin & Jin, 2011), to the actual amount of strategies that are
covered in the news media (Holladay, 2009). Despite this growing body of work, there is a
lack of consensus in literature on what can be considered a valid way to assess the
effectiveness of different crisis communication strategies. Some use experiments to test the
effects of strategies in different situations (Verhoeven, Van Hoof, Ter Keurs & Van Vuuren,
2012), others reconstruct effects based on situational outcomes, such as public polls
(Garcia, 2011; Alharbi, 2012). What is considered a decent way to measure effectiveness of
used strategies depends on the purpose of the study (Kim, Avery & Lariscy, 2009) and as a
result there are no clear guidelines on this matter. Holladay (2009) analyzed the amount of
strategies in organizational press releases that were covered by the news media and used
this as a way of analyzing effectiveness of chosen strategies. In this study, we use the same
and there is consensus that the public receives its organizational information from the media
who function as mediators (Coombs, 2007; McQuial, 2010, p. 86).
Considering that the media stand between an organization and its public, it is striking
that so few studies have tested the relation between corporate press releases and the
coverage of these releases in the news media. Some studies have analyzed the presence of organizational information subsidies in news media without analyzing organizational press
releases as reference (Lyu, 2011). Others analyzed solely press releases (Schultz & Raupp,
2010). Though studies outside the scope of crisis communication have studied relationships
between corporate press releases and news media coverage, few studies on crisis
communication seem to have addressed this subject so far (Holladay, 2009; Kroon &
Schafraad, 2013; Seletzky & Lehman-Wilzig, 2010). In the present study we contribute to this
lack of empirical research on the relation between press releases and news coverage.
In addition, we include multiple actors in our study to answer a more recent call in
research to abandon the viewpoint of the organization as the center of communication and
consider more actors in the communicative process of reaching the public (e.g. Karagianni &
Cornelissen, 2006; Schultz & Raupp, 2010). Hints towards this perspective can even be
found in the most early works on crisis communication, as is observed in the phrase “competitors of equal or less power are likely targets of intimidation and condemnation” (Allan
& Caillouet, 1994, p. 49), indicating the presence of multiple actors on a given issue that will
try to contest each other. In this light it is interesting to study which actor has more success
getting its press releases covered. We will further elaborate on this perspective by using the
concept of issue arenas.
Issue arenas
With its roots in stakeholder theory and social network theory, the relatively new concept of
issue arenas moves away from the centrality of the organization in communication on issues (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2010). Instead, issues are regarded as the center of communication with the organization as one of the involved stakeholders (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2009). Issue arenas
then are defined as “places of interaction where an issue is discussed by stakeholders and
organizations” (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2010, p. 316) and these places can be either real or
virtual, such as the traditional media or new (social) media. These media form the place for
debate and a struggle for power between stakeholders, who each try to frame the situation in
their own way (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2010). Since the issue, not the organization, forms the center of communication in this theory, organizations and their stakeholders are
independents in the arena (for practical reasons all participants in an issue arena shall therefore be referred to as ‘actors’ in the remainder of this article).
Actors can and may adjust their amount of involvement and presence in an issue
arena, participate in multiple arenas at the same time or may leave an arena entirely
(Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2009). This brings a dynamic to the communication on issues that indeed seems
more realistic than traditional models that consider one organization as the center of
communication. In an issue arena, the stakes can vary greatly between actors. As a result,
some actors will try to contest each other with opposing stances and arguments, where
others form coalitions. A good example of this can be found in politics, where parties support
or contest one another for tactical or for ideological reasons, especially during elections
(Kleinneijenhuis et al., 2007). We argue here that the same process occurs in organizational
communication on any issue. Opposing or supporting, all actors strive to gain the most
attention of the public by framing the situation in a desirable way, in order to achieve the
most beneficial outcome for the organization.
Considering the apparent applicability of the concept it is striking that it has generated
hardly any research besides the first theoretical and exploratory works (Luoma-Aho & Vos,
2009, 2010; Luoma-Aho & Paloviita, 2010). We argue the concept of issue arena is very
useful for theoretical research, public relations practice and the use of crisis communications,
and therefore other theoretical concepts that are conceptually related to issue arenas are
discussed to broaden current knowledge on issue arenas in communication.
Chong and Druckman (2007) considered framing in competitive environments, in which frames can gain power through repetition or by other actors supporting them. The term
framing competition relates to the idea of issue arenas, because it suggests that two or more actors act in the same environment and try to frame a situation, or issue, in favorable ways.
These specific frames can also be referred to as advocate frames (Tewksbury et al., 2000)
and the actors providing them as frame sponsors (Van Gorp, 2007), placing these terms in a
new multi-actor context, instead of the original use of the terms that was more focused on one actor convincing the media than one actor competing with other actors for attention. In
Public Administration, research on framing contests examined political efforts to avoid
responsibility for negative events by using crisis communication strategies (Boin, Hart &
McConnell, 2009). In addition, Koopmans and Olzak (2004) conducted a study on what they call “discursive opportunities”, the chances of a political message diffusing across the public
sphere. The public sphere is considered the media, who have a finite capacity and as such
generate a competition for media attention among (political) actors (Koopmans & Olzak,
2004). Although crisis communication strategies used in communication science differ from
those used in Public Administration, we argue the concept of political actors opposing and endorsing each other’s frames can be regarded exactly the same process as is presupposed
in issue arenas.
The argument of Luoma-Aho and Vos (2010) that the media are the place for political
debate is widely accepted (Boin, Hart & McConnell, 2009; Chong & Druckman, 2007;
Koopmans & Olzak, 2004; Snow, Vliegenthart & Corigall-Brown; 2007; Vliegenthart & Van
Zoonen, 2007). We argue that the research on communication in a political context can be
translated to the organizational context. The concept of issue arenas can thus be applied in
both contexts. Organizations will have to convince news-makers to cover their stories in a
similar way political actors have to (Boin, Hart & McConnell, 2009) and research shows that
only a minority of organizational attempts to gain media exposure actually results in media
attention, as well as political attempts at public claim making (Holladay, 2009; Koopmans &
Olzak, 2004). The media play an important role in the concept of issue arenas, though some
studies recommend caution in attributing too much agency to the media (Snow, Vliegenthart & Corigall-Brown, 2007; Vliegenthart & Van Zoonen, 2007). Media do select their frames
(Snow, Vliegenthart & Corigall-Brown, 2007) and it is clear that power is important in frame
building, but frames are also a result of social interactions and therefore it remains unclear
how these powers result in for the actors favorable frames (Vliegenthart & Van Zoonen,
2007).
Based on these findings, we argue that issue arenas as described by Luoma-Aho and Vos (2010) can form an umbrella under which research on competing frames from
several opposing or supporting actors can be arranged. Though multi-disciplinary, these
studies reveal a need for more research on frame variation of the same event (Snow,
Vliegenthart & Corigall-Brown, 2007), on power of actors and frames (Chong & Druckman,
2004; Vliegenthart & Van Zoonen, 2007) and on different strategies of actors that can lead to
more media-attention (Boin, Hart & McConnell, 2009). Arranging these questions under the
concept of issue arenas is a the first step towards answering these questions.
In order to form the bridge between conventional research on crisis communication
and the way it can be incorporated in the different view on issues as the center of communication, this study starts with the question ‘which crisis communication strategies do
the actors use on a specific issue?’ (RQ1). Although it extends on previous work on crisis
communication (e.g. Coombs, 2007; Kim, Avery & Lariscy, 2009) by studying multiple actors
at the same time, this question is still concerned with strategies used by each actor
individually and the answer can therefore be based on earlier findings. Expectations are that
both the denial and mortification strategy will hardly be used by any of the actors, that all
actors will primarily use strategies that shift the blame to other actors, and that emphasize
their own good works in the past and future (H1).
A logical question following the first is then ‘to what extent do crisis communication
strategies of the actors appear in the news media (RQ2) and to what extent do news media refer to the actors’ press releases as sources?’ (RQ3). As noted earlier, material on this
matter is scarce in corporate communication research, but outside this scope other studies
can inform the expectations. Recent studies found that only a small percentage of press releases receive coverage by news media (Holladay, 2009; Kroon & Schafraad, 2013) and
since crisis communication strategies can differ over time and thus over press releases, we
expect strategies used in press releases and in news items to show little resemblance (H2).
News media have not been found to be generous in providing references to corporate sources (Hijmans, Schafraad, Buijs & d’Haenens, 2011; Holladay, 2009) and in line with
these findings references in the news media to corporate press releases (H3a) and spokespersons (H3b) are expected to be scarce.
Considering the issue rather than the organization as the center of communication, the final questions formulated are ‘in what way is the issue arena visible in the news media?’
(RQ4a) and ‘is there a difference between different news media in the way they reconstruct the issue arena?’ (RQ4b). Though this last question is explorative, some expectations can be
based on previous research. When actors from different cultures enter the issue arena, as is
the case here with a Dutch, an Italian and a Belgian culture, one can expect to see
differences in communication strategies and frames of choice (Garcia, 2011), which could
result in differing media attention. Based on the work of Capriotti (2009) it can be expected
that different sized actors will gain different amounts of exposure in the arena.
Methods
We will first describe the analyzed case, followed by descriptions of the research design,
process of data collection, measures used and the reliability of these measures.
Case description
In the summer of 2012, after a long period of delays the Dutch railway operator Nederlandse
Spoorwegen (NS) and the Belgian railway operator Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (NMBS) were able to commission the high-speed train ‘Fyra’ (or ‘V250’). The
Fyra was a prestigious project that was meant to connect important cities in Belgium and the
Netherlands via a high-speed railway. Manufacturer of the trains was the Italian company
AnsaldoBreda who had won the public procurement in 2003, and both NS and NMBS both purchased a number of trains from AnsaldoBreda. In January 2013 the Fyra was taken out of
service due to ongoing problems with the trains, marking the start of a fierce debate about
the future of the trains and especially about the responsibility for the failure of the project which was worth millions of euro’s.
This case study was considered appropriate to study crisis communications strategies
in practice and to explore the concept of issue arenas because of the saliency of the case in The Netherlands, the fact that it included multiple actors and the presence of debate about
who was responsible for the situation. This last point especially provided a solid base for
discussion between the actors. A final reason was the international character of the case,
with Dutch, Belgian and Italian actors involved.
Design
A content analysis of a case consisting of press releases and news items was conducted,
supplemented with a content analysis of an interview with the head of communication at one
of the major actors, NS. The major actors were deduced from a quick read of several
newspaper articles on the subject. The following actors were used for analysis: Dutch railway
operator NS, together with other actor Belgian railway operator NMBS responsible for the
operation of the high-speed connection between The Netherlands and Belgium and who both
bought a number of trains from Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda, a third actor who was
responsible for the manufacture and delivery of the trains. The Dutch Ministry of
Infrastructure and Milieu (Ministry of I&M) including the Dutch minister of Finance, was
identified as the last major actor as this ministry was politically responsible for the Dutch
infrastructure along with the Dutch minister of Finance as the only shareholder of NS. Dutch
public transporter Arriva and associations for public transport were also identified in the news
media, though these were only used (associations as one collective) for research on the
issue arena. Their individual messages were not used for analysis of crisis communication
Data collection
The period of data collection began on 19 January 2013 when the Fyra was taken out of
service and ended on 31 October 2013. Although the case had not come to an end at that
moment, enough data was collected to analyze the different strategies used by the actors.
Press releases were collected from the corporate websites of the actors involved using search keyword ‘Fyra’, which resulted in 44 relevant press releases. Public documents
from the Ministry of I&M were used as press releases, since they were public and many
news agencies use them as sources. Letters or documents that were sent to the Ministry and
that were public were regarded as press releases of the sender of the documents. To
describe the sort of information that was used, we used the definition ‘documented information subsidy’, describing corporate information that is public and written down
(documented). A spokesperson providing comments to a journalist is no documented
information subsidy, for it cannot be traced and coded for research. Videos could be shared
under this concept, but these were not used in this study.
News items were collected from four major Dutch national newspapers using the
LexisNexis database: Volkskrant, Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad and Trouw. These four
newspapers were chosen due to their differing social stances and their combined accurate
representation of the Dutch newspaper landscape. In addition to these offline news media
two major Dutch news sites were used: NOS.nl and NU.nl. All articles were collected using keyword ‘Fyra’ and the dates between 19 January 2013 and 31 October 2013, which resulted
in a total of 624 news items, of which 339 news items were selected as relevant for the case
and used for analysis. From these 339 news items a total of 557 statements were distilled for
analysis using the NET-method.
The interview with NS took place on 11 November 2013, before analysis of the data
and based on general questions about communicational processes in the organization and
used strategies. Topics included use of communication protocols, handling of incidents,
Measures
Research on crisis communication strategies used many different instruments. This study
aimed to build upon previous research by using the codebook from Pajor and Schafraad
(2013) with some minor alterations (Appendix B). The codebook consisted of nineteen
strategies divided over four categories. The first category, ‘denial of responsibility’, consisted of total denial of the crisis, attacking the accuser, scapegoating, separation and accident. The
second category was ‘reducing of responsibility by justification’, consisting of denial of injury
or damage, victim deserving, misrepresentation of events, differentiation and transcendence. In the third category, ‘reducing responsibility by ingratiation’, strategies were self-enhacing or
bolstering, role model, other-enhancing or praising, opinion conformity, concern and victimization. At the end of the spectrum, the fourth category ‘apology’ consisted of corrective action, compensation and mortification. Finally, a twentieth strategy was added when none of the strategies were found, indicating that the actor was subject of the item but no statements
from the actor were used. More details and examples of the strategies can be found in
Appendix B.
References in news items to documented information subsidies (sources) were scored using two questions, the first being ‘Does the article refer to any documented
information subsidy?’ with scores for ‘reference to at least one’ and ‘no reference’. The
second question was used to score the reference to corporate spokespersons as sources, with scores for ‘reference to at least one’, and ‘no reference’.
Mapping of the issue arena was conducted using an instrument based on the
NET-method of De Ridder (1994), in which core sentences from the actors (subject) about other
actors (object) were distilled from news items and given a value based on their tenor. Values
could range from -1 (very negative about actor) via 0 (neutral) to 1 (very positive about
actor), with values of -0,5 and 0,5 given to sentences scoring in between. An example of a core sentence is “The Italians contest that the trains do not meet requirements and argue
that NS is responsible for the problems in the winter conditions”, in which AnsaldoBreda is
object responsible, a value of -1 is given to this core sentence. The final value for each actor
in the arena was calculated by summing all values and dividing the total by the number of
statements that made up this value. A more detailed description and a guide for usage of the
instrument can be found in Appendix C.
Reliability
This study was conducted by one student researcher. The intra-coder reliability was
measured by recoding approximately the first ten percent of news items and press releases.
A total of 43 items were recoded and compared to the first coding. Percentages of agreement and Cohen’s Kappa were calculated, though insufficient cases were used to provide an
accurate Cohen’s Kappa. Levels of agreement ranged from 78 to 98 percent (see also Table
1, Appendix A) and can, taking the explorative character of this study in account, be regarded
as sufficient (Neuendorf, 2002, p. 145).
Results Press releases
First, Table 2 provides an overview of the number of press releases and strategies used by
each actor. Of the nineteen available communication strategies, separation, victim deserving,
differentiation and role model were not used by any actor. Self-enhancing was the most used
Table 2.
Overview of most used strategies in press releases.
NS Ministry of I&M AnsaldoBreda NMBS
Attack accuser - - 5 - Scapegoat 3 2 1 3 Misrepresentation - - 5 - Self-enhancing 7 4 6 6 Opinion conformity 1 7 1 2 Concern 3 8 1 2 Victimization - - 6 3 Compensation 4 2 - 6 N 8 15 10 10 Total strategies 24 28 37 27 Average per PR 3 1,9 3,7 2,7
strategy in press releases (23 times), followed by concern (14 times). Use of strategies
varied greatly between actors, with no category of strategies being used most. Therefore our
first hypothesis was rejected. The amount of press releases was not large enough to test
whether differences in chosen strategies were significant, though some results did stand out.
AnsaldoBreda had the highest ratio of communication strategies per press release (3,7) and had also the greatest range of used strategies (Table 2). AnsaldoBreda was the only actor
using the attack accuser (5) and misrepresentation of events (5) strategies and used
victimization (6) most of all actors. The high score on concern was mainly due to the Ministry of I&M, who used the strategy most (8), along with opinion conformity (7). Overall, the
amounts and categories of strategies used varied widely across the four actors, except for
self-enhancing. Interestingly, of all actors NS had the smallest amount of press releases (8) and did not compensate this by implementing more strategies per press release (average of
3 per press release).
News items
An overview of the number of news items per medium is provided in Table 3 (N). An answer
to the questions on the amount of reference to documented information subsidy and other
sources can be deduced from Table 3, where references per media and actors in news items
are displayed. References to press releases are in general infrequent, with the average
Table 3.
References per media and actors in percentages.
Media Actors
VK NRC Tele graaf
Trouw NOS.nl NU.nl NS Ministry of I&M Ansaldo Breda NMBS DocInfSub 12 28ab 8 29ab 18 10 14 23c 22c 9 OtherSource 32 37 30 24 24 51d 37e 24 37e 34 N 37 60 64 35 77 66
Note: DocInfSub = reference to documented information subsidy in news items, OtherSource = reference to spokesperson in news item, N = number of news items from medium. Percentages of total of items per actor as subject.
a
= higher than VK, p<.05, b = higher than Telegraaf, p<.01, c = higher than NMBS, p<.05, d = higher than NOS.nl, p<.05, e = higher than Ministry of I&M, p<.05.
across all sources coming close to seventeen percent. However, differences between media
can be observed, with NRC (t(143) = 2.43, p < .05) and Trouw (t(99) = 2.26, p < .05) having
significantly higher scores than Volkskrant. NRC (t(159) = 3.41, p < .01) and Trouw (t(115) =
3.16, p < .01) also scored significantly higher than Telegraaf. There was no significant
difference in references between the offline media and the online media (t(456) = 1.25, p = .21). When looking at the amount of references per actor, the Ministry of I&M (t(166) = 2.48,
p < .05) and AnsaldoBreda (t(180) = 2.36, p < .05) gained significantly more references to their press releases than NMBS. Despite these differences, percentages of references to
documented information subsidies were very low, both per medium (less than a third of items
containing a reference at best) and per actor (less than a quarter of items containing a
reference at best), giving support to hypothesis 3a.
References to spokespersons however appear to be more frequent in news items
(Table 3). Here, NU.nl (51%) scores (t(190) = 4.03, p < .001) significantly higher than NOS.nl.
Again, there are no significant differences between offline media and online media on
references to spokespersons (t(452) = 1.18, p < .24). Across the actors, the Ministry of I&M
scores significantly lower than both NS (t(166) = 2.48, p < .05) and AnsaldoBreda (t(180) =
2.36, p < .05). Trouw being an exception, scores on references to spokespersons are overall
remarkably higher than scores on references to press releases, with references for actors
ranging from one in four to one in three news items, and therefore hypothesis 3b was
rejected. In support of this result, NS stated in the interview that it sees its value as a direct
information provider growing, with more on-the-spot-questions and requests for reactions:
“I believe that is where it is going at NS but also at other parties. Digitalizing, video […] and
being very welcoming to media who afterward still want to come to you to ask some questions independently”.
Table 4 contains the most used crisis communication strategies per actor in news items, including a ratio of strategies per news item. NS had the highest presence in the news
items (53% of total amount of news items), but was also, along with the Ministry of I&M, the
most frequently covered actor in news items that was discussed without any strategy (30%).
AnsaldoBreda on the other hand, scored significantly higher on average amount of strategies
per item than the three other actors (p < .01) and NMBS scored significantly higher than the
Ministry of I&M (t(166) = 2.10, p < .05). Table 5 provides an additional overview of strategies in news items across the media. Here especially the scores of the Telegraaf on average strategy per item (1) and high percentage ‘no strategy’ (43%) stand out. Both Trouw
Table 4.
Amount of crisis communication strategies in news items per actor.
NS Ministry of I&M AnsaldoBreda NMBS
No strategy 54 29 17 14 Attack accuser 8 - 34 5 Scapegoat 47 9 40 27 Denial of Injury 8 2 36 1 Misrepresentation 16 6 19 3 Self-enhancing 22 2 38 8 Opinion conformity 8 15 1 6 Victimization 26 1 42 25 Corrective action 10 32 5 4 Compensation 54 23 12 17 N (subject of item) 180 97 111 71 Total strategies 224 109 246 104
Average per item 1,2 1,1 2,2** 1,5*
Presence in % 53 29 33 21
Note: for improvement of readability, only the most frequently used strategies are displayed. * = higher than Min. of I&M, p<.05, ** = higher than NS, Min. of I&M and NMBS, p<.01.
Table 5.
Amount of crisis communication strategies per medium.
VK NRC Telegraaf Trouw NU NOS
No strategy 21 23 33 3 12 22 Attack accuser 5 20 5 6 1 10 Scapegoat 16 24 13 16 28 26 Misrepresentation 6 16 5 3 5 9 Self-enhancing 7 19 12 9 13 10 Victimization 12 3 9 20 31 19 Corrective action 6 8 5 5 18 9 Compensation 15 4 6 14 33 34
Total subjects in items 60 85 76 42 93 103
Total strategies 84 134 74 90 155 146
Average per item 1,4 1,5* 1 2,1** 1,6 1,4
% no strategy 35 27 43 7 13 21
Note: only most used strategies are displayed, ‘differentiation’ and ‘role model’ were never used. * = higher than Telegraaf, p<.01, ** = higher than VK,NRC and Telegraaf, p<.05.
(t(116) = 4.96, p < .01) and NRC (t(159) = 2.83, p < .05) had significantly more strategies per
news item. Trouw had significantly more strategies per news item than NRC (t(125) = 2.19, p
< .05) and VK (t(100) = 2.71, p < .01) , indicating that of all media, Trouw gave most room to
the actors for comments. When comparing strategies used in press releases (Table 2) to
strategies most frequently scored in news items (Table 4), the results on coverage of
strategies from press releases in news items are mixed. NS made most use of the strategies
scapegoat (47) and compensation (54), blaming AnsaldoBreda and shifting attention to solutions for the problems. Self enhancing (22) was used as well, but relatively less than in
their press releases. The Ministry of I&M scored high on corrective action (32) and
compensation (23), in contrast with the strategy concern in their press releases. Similar to NS, NMBS made relatively more use of scapegoat (27) and compensation (17) in news
items, although victimization (25) showed some resemblance with press releases.
AnsaldoBreda used a wide variety of strategies in its press releases and this was reflected in news items, where mostly strategies of ‘shifting the blame’ and ‘reducing’ were found. All
strategies in press releases received coverage in news items, although most were
supplemented by other strategies. These results provided support for hypothesis 2.
In summary, hypothesis 1 on strategies used most in press releases was rejected,
because the range of strategies encountered in press releases was larger than expected. All
strategies in press releases received at least some coverage in news items, but variation and
additions of strategies were too numerous, giving support for hypothesis 2. References to
press releases were scarce, as was expected in hypothesis 3a. The amount of references to
spokespersons was higher than expected, and therefore hypothesis 3b was rejected. Along
with these findings some interesting differences between actors and media were found, on
which we will elaborate more in the discussion. First, we turn to the results of the mapping of
Issue arena
Table 6 provides information on the amount of statements made by each actor about other
actors. NS (-.8) and NMBS (-.9) both had a negative attitude towards AnsaldoBreda.
AnsaldoBreda in return had a negative attitude towards both NS (-.6) and NMBS (-.7). The
Ministry of I&M had neutral average values towards NS (0) and NMBS (0), although it still took a prominent role in this case due to the total amount of statements made (120) of which the majority had NS as object (91). NS and NMBS seemed to keep out of each other’s way
with only nine mildly positive statements each, which resulted in mild positive values of +.5.
Although the Ministry of I&M appeared to stay rather neutral when it came to making statements, it received some strong critiques from ‘minor’ actors Arriva .8) and the Unions
(-.7). All major actors encountered positive and negative statements from within their own
organization, with AnsaldoBreda standing out as the only one with a positive value (+.2).
More details on the role of the media can be deduced from Table 7, where the number
of statements per actor per medium are presented. In almost all media, NS was most often
object of statements (261) and, in contrast, had relatively the lowest amount of statements as
subject (139). It is clear that NS and AnsaldoBreda (172 times as subject) received most
coverage, followed by the Ministry of I&M (120 times as subject) and NMBS (88 times as
subject). Arriva (15) and the Unions (43) tried to claim some of the attention, but they were
clearly not regarded as very important by the news media. Overall, in an answer to RQ4a,
the Fyra-case holds a complex field of actors making positive and negative statements about
each other. By mapping the average scores of statements in Table 6, Figure 1 shows the
Table 6.
Overview of statements from actors as subjects and objects (total statements). Subject Object
NS Min. I&M Ans.Breda NMBS Arriva
NS -.58 (12) 0 (1) -.76 (114) .5 (9) -.5 (3) Min. I&M .04 (91) -.5 (1) -.5 (3) -.02 (23) -.25 (2) Ans.Breda -.64 (115) .2 (5) -.68 (52) NMBS .5 (9) -.38 (4) -.88 (71) -.75 (2) -.5 (2) Arriva -.17 (6) -.75 (8) -1 (1) Unions -.29 (28) -.68 (11) .13 (4)
Table 7.
Overview of actors as object (subject) of statements per medium.
VK NRC Telegraaf Trouw NOS.nl NU.nl Total
NS 31 (11) 47 (35) 41 (12) 33 (21) 52 (23) 57 (37) 261 (139) Ministry of I&M 3 (13) 3 (22) 8 (14) - (15) 2 (25) 9 (31) 25 (120) AnsaldoBreda 24 (17) 39 (25) 19 (21) 33 (30) 31 (40) 47 (29) 193 (172) NMBS 16 (17) 14 (14) 3 (9) 17 (13) 20 (12) 21 (23) 91 (88) Arriva - (-) 1 (1) 1 (2) - (-) 2 (1) 3 (5) 7 (15) Unions - (6) - (1) - (14) - (4) - (6) - (12) - (43) Statements 74 104 72 83 107 137 577 N of news items 37 60 64 35 77 66 339 Ratio 2 1,7 1,1 2,3 1,4 2
Note: Ratio = average statements per news item in medium.
Figure 1.Visualization of Fyra issue arena, with average of statements in bold (number of statements). Larger arrows indicate higher values.
relations between the different actors in the case. The interview provided further insight on
this matter, as NS stated it does monitor the interplay it has with different actors,
“…but less funded on intensive research. […] our spokespersons read a number of newspapers online […] and then it is monitored very carefully what the consumer
organizations say. […] We announced our alternative for Fyra on a Friday, some time ago. […] Then of course you know AnsaldoBreda will react rebellious…”
Several differences between media were observed that showed resemblance with
findings on earlier research questions. The Telegraaf again stood out in having a low ratio of
statements per item (1,1) and in providing more statements with NS as object (41) than as
subject (12), which was in line with the stance of the newspaper as highlighted in the interview with NS:
“Telegraaf is more the highway-paper […] is more of the car-driving Dutchman. [...] Also for
your feeling, it is often about lobbying for asphalt, against toll roads. As a railway operator you have to work slightly harder to earn your stripes.”
The Ministry of I&M and NMBS were treated more mildly. Trouw on the other side appeared
to be more balanced in ratio of statements per item (2,3), though the newspaper interestingly
only provided three actors (NS, AnsaldoBreda and NMBS) as object of statements. NOS.nl
provided a great amount of statements from AnsaldoBreda (40) considering hardly any actors
gained more statements as subject than as objects in most media. In an answer to RQ4b, the
media showed some, at times substantial, differences in coverage of the issue of Fyra. We
will now further elaborate on these findings in the discussion and conclusion.
Discussion and conclusion
In search of more insights on the theory and especially practice of crisis communication, we
set out to study the usage of crisis communication strategies in both corporate press
releases and news items of multiple actors, to explore the applicability of the concept of issue
arenas. We started with comparing strategies used in press releases to strategies found in
news items. Crisis communication strategies differed between actors in both amounts and
variety, contrasting our expectations and previous findings (Kim, Avery & Lariscy, 2009). The
Italian actor AnsaldoBreda had the widest range of strategies and used significantly more strategies per press release than the other three actors, which shows resemblance with
findings of Garcia (2011) about cultural differences in the use and effectiveness of crisis
communication.
In line with our expectations and in support of earlier findings (Hijmans, Schafraad, Buijs & d’Haenens, 2011; Holladay, 2009), references to documented information subsidy
were scarce. References to spokespersons however were more numerous than expected, contrasting findings of a previous study (Holladay, 2009). We argue that this last finding
influenced the results of our comparison between strategies in press releases and strategies
in news items. Although our expectations were supported, it is not unthinkable that the
differences found are a result of spokespersons anticipating to questions and actions of other
actors. An example of this can be found in NS making more use of compensation and
victimization in news items due to pressure to come with a solution and due to juridical steps against AnsaldoBreda. These strategies are based on short moments or temporary situations
and probably not worth writing a press release for, but news media tend to use a lot of these
statements. Similar observations can be made at the Ministry of I&M using corrective action
to indicate it will hold NS and NMBS to their obligations, and NMBS making more use of the
scapegoat strategy, which is always directed to another actor and statements about other actors are rarely found in press releases.
Building upon these observations, significant differences in media presence of the
actors were found. AnsaldoBreda managed to gain relatively more coverage from the news
media than all other actors. A possible explanation is considering press releases as the start
of a process in which all media try to make a breaking story of their own by adding details or
quotes from others, as was indicated by the results from the interview with NS. It is not
unlikely that news media search for ‘clashes’ between actors to boost news value. Since
hardly any statements in press releases are about other actors, the reactions of
spokespersons are more interesting for the news media and AnsaldoBreda was possibly more willing to provide ‘entertaining’ comments.
In addition, media differed in their tone and preference for specific actors in the arena. The Telegraaf scored lowest on amount of references to spokespersons or press releases,
taking a stance as supporter of the public, with more news items opposing the large
organizations who wasted millions of tax money. Trouw on the other hand provided most
statements per item for the actors, although it had the least news items about the case in
total. NU.nl provided the best podium for spokespersons, contrasting NOS.nl which had more
references to press releases. Interestingly, no differences were found between the online and offline media, which could be caused by the large differences within both the offline and
online media.
By placing these actors in the same context of the Fyra-case, we demonstrated the
interplay between them and provided insights in the different ways in which different media
reconstruct an issue. We found that the largest organization in the case, NS, had the highest
percentage of presence in news items, which was also visible in the issue arena where NS
had a great amount of statements. Our findings support earlier findings that indicate that
larger organizations have more presence in the news than small organizations (Capriotti,
2009), but they also show that this does not mean that an organization has more power. The
visualization of the issue arena in Figure 1 demonstrates that having a high presence in
news media can result in more opposition of smaller organizations. It indicates that placing
one actor at the center of the Fyra-case would do no right to the other actors involved, such
as AnsaldoBreda and the Unions, who also have influence on the development of the case.
The concept of issue arenas (Luoma-Aho & Vos, 2010) paves the way for considering
corporate communication as a process in which not the organization, but the issue is the
center of communication.
These findings provide venues for future research. First, research on corporate
communication in general and crisis communication in particular should move away from the
centrality of an organization. Building on earlier works (e.g. Schultz and Raupp, 2010)
research on crisis communication can gain more ground by including multiple actors in the
process of communication in a crisis situation and by studying the way they affect each other,
similarly to a previous study on agenda building and experiments on effects of crisis communication (Schultz et al., 2012). Some authors saw the need for more experiments to
study the effects of crisis communication (Verhoeven et al., 2012), but by visualizing the
issue arena we show that more insights in the effects of multiple actors in one case
enhances knowledge of the discourse of an issue. Secondly and connected to this first point,
the concept of issue arenas deserves further analysis, since this was only a first explorative
study which necessitates more research to gain insight in the interplay between actors in the field of communication. A third recommendation is to expand on research on effects of crisis
communication strategies instead of on selection of these strategies. Our findings indicate
that strategies vary over actors and over time and suggest that some strategies have more
news value than others. We argue that for an optimal effect, selection should not only
depend on crisis type (Coombs, 2007) but also on knowledge of which strategy is most likely
to receive coverage in the news media. Fourth and building upon this last point, we
recommend more research on references to spokespersons in news items instead of on
reference to press releases, since our findings show that news media tend to copy more
statements from spokespersons than from information subsidies such as press releases.
Expanding on this study and the work of Holladay (2009) can be a tough task, however the
continuous improvements in technology and the greater emphasis on quick and on-the-spot
reactions from organizations, primarily charged by the Social Media, demand a new
perspective on communication from both practice and research.
By conducting this study we also brought insights relevant for practice of corporate
communication and Public Relations. Firstly, communication practitioners should focus even
more on providing on-the-spot, ready-to-use information, as NS stated it already does. The
press release still has a function as a conversation starter, providing the news media with a
reason to start asking questions. Practitioners should keep in mind that news media are
probably most interested in quotes about other actors, providing the organization with both
an opportunity for extra attention and a risk of bad publicity. Our results indicate that
providing news media with many crisis communication strategies is not a bad thing, though
they also suggest that connecting a strategy to a statement about another actor results in more coverage of that strategy. Consequently, a second recommendation that could proof
fruitful is to include statements in press releases about other actors where possible. In our
study the Ministry of I&M sometimes (possibly unintentional) made such statements and
these were retrieved many times in later stories. However, organizations should also be
cautious for the potential risks, for these statements can be hard to overcome when
interpreted in the wrong way. We base our third recommendation on our findings that there are some significant differences between media when it comes to reconstructing a case, and
it could prove beneficial to know which media are more in your favor than others in shaping
the overall view of the issue. Our final recommendation also concerns the use of other actors
in the arena. In the issue of Fyra, it is clear that NS and NMBS had similar stakes at play, and
they acted accordingly by being mildly positive towards each other. NS stated in the interview it sometimes ‘tunes’ its statements in line with another actor. The mapping of the issue arena
in this study demonstrates how many actors can target an actor with negative statements,
and in such a situation it can be very useful to know at least one actor will support your
position. Communication practitioners could advance their damage control by searching for
allies more actively and by carrying out these alliances towards the public.
Some limitations to our findings are in order, such as the limited number of items for
our measure of reliability. A next study with the codebook used in this paper (Pajor &
Schafraad, 2013) can expand on this to allow for a more robust measure of reliability in order
to further test the applicability of the codebook. Still, the codebook proved useful and was
found relevant in this study. Due to the explorative character of this study on the concept of
issue arenas, the measures for effectiveness of press releases needs to be tested further.
Future research could focus more on making the research design suitable for connecting
press releases and news items. Finally, one should be cautious when generalizing results
from this study, as it was only studied in one case. However, we have no reasons to believe
that our findings on connections between press releases and news media and the mapping
of the issue arena will not be relevant in other cases.
By connecting press releases of multiple actors to coverage of those actors in news items, we made an important leap forward in research on crisis communication strategies.
The integration of different theoretical concepts, along with the mapping of statements in
news items in the Fyra-case, provided important support for the concept of issue arenas.
Based on the interplay between actors found in this study, we argue that future research
should move away from the current organization-centered perspective towards a more
dynamic view of crisis communication, in which not the organization but the issue takes a central place. By doing so, research on corporate communication in general and on crisis
communication in particular can continue to develop and provide practice with new and fresh
insights. With a new theoretical foundation, we provided a significant first step in that
process.
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Appendix A. Measures of reliability Table 1. Measures of reliability. Agreement (%) Cohen’s Kappa
Reference doc. info. subsidy 84 .45
Reference other sources 88 .73
No strategy 78 .47 Attack accuser 93 -* Scapegoat 85 .37 Denial of injury 93 .38 Misrepresentation 91 .46 Transcendence 98 .79 Self-enhancing 93 .69 Concern 98 .66 Victimization 96 .88 Corrective action 89 .54 Compensation 80 .53
