Crisis communication, corporate framing and news media
framing of preventable crises
Examining the use of crisis response strategies, news factors and frames
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication
Master’s programme Communication Science
Student: Kim van Loon Student number: 10677070
Thesis supervisor: dr. Toni van der Meer Date of completion: 01-02-2019
Abstract
A preventable crisis is one of the biggest threats to the corporate reputation because of the strong attributions of crisis responsibility. In order to minimize the reputational threat that can be caused by a crisis, organizations have to manage its crisis communication. Press releases are issued as a means to get the organization’s side of the story in the news media, reach stakeholders and save the corporate reputation. In addition to the presence of crisis response strategies and news factors in press releases, the crisis is framed in terms of news frames and the tone. The framing of a crisis shapes stakeholders’ interpretation of a crisis and thereby influences the reputational threat. Therefore, framing is crucial for effective communication. The corporate communication during and after a crisis is one of the most important factors in ascertaining the effects of a crisis on the long-term.
The aim of this study is to examine the crisis response strategies and news factors that are used most frequent by organizations in press releases concerning preventable crises, and to examine to what extent the framing of a crisis differs between organizations and the news media. Therefore, press releases of organizations involved in preventable crises (N = 40) and newspaper articles covering those crises (N = 500) were examined by means of a quantitative content analysis. The findings indicate that organizations use rebuild crisis response strategies most frequent, accompanied by the news factors reference to elite people and employees & management. Furthermore, framing the crisis in press releases did not affect the framing in the news media. Despite previous studies showing that press releases affect the media frame, this study showed the opposite. News media framed a preventable crisis constantly different than organizations concerning the tone and the use of news frames. An implication of this finding is that crisis managers should be aware that press releases do not affect the news
media to an extent that is beneficial for organizations, so additional measures should be applied. Further implications and suggestions are discussed in the conclusion.
Keywords
Introduction
In July 2017, approximately 143 million Americans were affected by a security breach at one of the largest credit-reporting firms in America, Equifax. Equifax was aware of a security flaw but did not take any action, which eventually allowed hackers to control the website. Hackers gained access to sensitive information of customers, including Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Consequences for Equifax were that the company’s stock declined, the CEO resigned, and stakeholders’ trust in the company was gone. This example illustrates how a preventable crisis can affect an organization’s reputation. Since the reputational threat posed by a so-called preventable crisis is most severe for organizations because of the strong attributions of crisis responsibility (Coombs, 2007), this research will focus on organizations involved in preventable crises.
In order to minimize the reputational threat, an organization has to manage its crisis communication and use crisis response strategies. Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) distinguished denial, diminish and rebuild crisis response strategies and posits that “as reputational threat and negative affect increases […], crisis managers should utilize crisis response strategies with the requisite level of accepting crisis responsibility” (Coombs, 2007, p. 172). However, it can be questioned whether this is applied in the practical field. An earlier study examined the use of crisis response strategies and concluded that the bridge between theory and practice is not as solid as it should be after years of crisis research (Kim, Avery & Lariscy, 2009). But what is the current situation, ten years later? Information and communication technologies have changed to a great extent, such as the emergence of social media. Changes in the global flow of information influenced crisis communication (Sung & Hwang, 2014). Furthermore, organizations face an increasing number of crises nowadays (Institute for Crisis Management, 2018; Sung & Hwang, 2014). Considering these changes, it
is relevant to examine whether the gap between theory and practice still exists. Therefore, the first aim of this research is to contribute to the existing research on crisis communication by examining the use of crisis response strategies by organizations involved in preventable crises.
However, crisis communication can only save the reputation of an organization when it reaches its stakeholders. Since most of the information stakeholders have about a crisis is provided by the news media and not by corporate communication, coverage in news media is crucially important for organizations to reach stakeholders and protect the reputation (Carroll & McCombs, 2003; Coombs, 2007; Kiousis, Popescu & Mitrook, 2007). In order to reach the news media, public relations professionals provide journalists with press releases (Coombs, 2007; Schafraad, Zoonen & Verhoeven, 2016).
Organizations try to enhance the chance on succession in the news media by using news factors in its press releases. News factors are certain characteristics of an event that determine the newsworthiness and thereby aid journalists in the selection of information for publication (Eilders, 2006). Press releases that contain news factors are more successful in attracting coverage and attention in the news media (Eilders, 2006; Schafraad et al., 2016). Earlier studies examined the use of news factors in press releases within different fields of news (Kroon & Schafraad, 2003; Schafraad et al., 2016). However, to my knowledge, no study examined the use of news factors in press releases of organizations involved in
preventable crises. Therefore, the second aim of this research is to fill the gap in the existing literature by identifying the news factors that organizations use in press releases concerning preventable crises, which can be referred to as preventable crisis specific news factors.
As mentioned above, press releases are important for organizations because of the influence on the news media agenda. However, to what extent does a press release about a preventable crisis affect news media coverage concerning that crisis? Given the different
goals of organizations in times of crisis and the news media, it is likely to assume that organizations and news media frame a crisis in a different way (Nijkrake, Gosselt &
Gutteling, 2014). While organizations may try to frame a crisis as positive as possible in order to minimize the reputational threat, this is not the first priority of news media, which may try to frame a crisis as objective or sensational as possible. How a crisis is framed is important for organizations because it shapes how stakeholders interpret a crisis, which subsequently
influences the reputational threat that can be caused by a crisis (Coombs, 2007). Therefore, the last aim of this research is to examine to what extent the framing of a crisis differs between organizations and the news media. Druckman (2004) distinguished two types of framing: equivalency framing and issue framing, which are in this study operationalized as tone and news frames. News frames have a direct influence on what enters the mind of the audience (Price, Tewksbury & Powers, 1997), whereas the tone influences the audience to think in a certain way about a crisis (Nijkrake et al., 2014; Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). Overall, this leads to the following research question: What crisis response strategies and news factors are used most frequent by organizations in press releases concerning
preventable crises, and to what extent do press releases affect the framing in the news media? In order to answer the research question, a quantitative content analysis will be
conducted of press releases from different organizations concerning preventable crises and of newspaper articles covering those crises. The results will provide practical implications for corporate communication professionals. Understanding how the framing of a press release concerning a preventable crisis affects the framing in the news media of that crisis can help corporate communication professionals to make informed choices regarding crisis
Theoretical background
Corporate reputation and crisis communication
An organizational crisis can threaten the corporate reputation. The corporate
reputation is the overall evaluation that stakeholders have concerning an organization (Gotsi & Wilson, 2001) and is considered to be a valuable asset because of the multiple benefits for organizations (Coombs, 2007). A positive corporate reputation can, among other things, attract customers, improve financial performance, attract employees, and create a competitive advantage (Coombs, 2007, p. 164). One of the biggest threats to a corporate reputation is a crisis. A crisis can be defined as “a sudden and unexpected event that threatens to disrupt an organization’s operations and poses both a financial and reputational threat” (Coombs, 2007, p. 164). A crisis poses a reputational threat because it gives important stakeholders, such as the public, reasons to think negatively of an organization (Coombs, 2007).
In order to repair the corporate reputation and/or diminish reputational damage that can be caused by a crisis, an organization has to manage its crisis communication (Coombs, 2007), which often takes place by issuing press releases (Schafraad et al., 2016). By means of a press release, an organization needs to take responsibility for its actions and has to satisfy its stakeholders’ needs for information that is triggered by the crisis. The organization needs to preserve the relationship with stakeholders so the benefits of a positive corporate reputation will not be lost (Coombs, 2007; Nijkrake et al., 2014). The corporate communication during and after the crisis is one of the most important factors in ascertaining the effects of a crisis on the long-term (Nijkrake et al., 2014).
Situational Crisis Communication Theory
An important theory within the field of crisis communication is Coombs’ (2007) Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). The SCCT “provides an evidence-based framework for understanding how to maximize the reputational protection afforded by post-crisis communication” (Coombs, 2007, p. 163). The SCCT uses the Attribution Theory in order to, among other things, predict the reputational threat that can be caused by a crisis (Coombs, 2007). One of the most important variables within the SCCT is the attribution of crisis responsibility by stakeholders.
The SCCT identified three crisis clusters that are based on the attribution of crisis responsibility and determine the reputational threat that is posed by the crisis: the victim cluster, the accidental cluster, and the preventable cluster (Coombs, 2007). As mentioned in the introduction, this research focuses on the preventable cluster. A crisis fits within the preventable cluster when an organization knowingly violated a law or regulation, took inappropriate actions, or placed people at risk (Coombs, 2007). Examples of crises that fit within this cluster are: organizational misdeed with or without injuries, organizational misdeed management misconduct, human-error product harm, and human-error accidents (Coombs, 2007, p. 168). The preventable cluster has very strong attributions of responsibility and crises that within this cluster therefore pose a severe reputational threat (Coombs, 2007).
In order to repair the reputation, to reduce negative effects, and to prevent any negative behavioral intentions, such as start negative word of mouth and/or disconnect with an organization, organizations use crisis response strategies. A crisis response strategy is what an organization says and does during and after a crisis (Coombs, 2007). The SCCT
distinguished three categories of primary crisis response strategies that are based on the perceptions of accepting responsibility for a crisis. These categories, which each comprise
multiple strategies, are: denial, diminish and rebuild crisis response strategies (Coombs, 2007). Denial crisis response strategies refer to statements in which an organization declares that it has nothing to do with the cause of the crisis and it has no responsibility for the crisis in order to eliminate the reputational threat (Coombs, 2006). This category includes: attack the accuser, denial and scapegoat (Coombs, 2007). Diminish crisis response strategies refer to statements in which an organization minimizes or diminishes the organizational responsibility and/or the damage that is caused by the crisis in order to reduce the reputational damage (Coombs, 2006). This category includes: excuse and justification (Coombs, 2007). Lastly, rebuild crisis response strategies refer to statements in which an organization accepts the crisis responsibility and tries to repair the damage that is caused by the crisis in order to improve the corporate reputation. This category includes: compensation and apology (Coombs, 2007).
Concerning the use of crisis response strategies, The SCCT posits that: “as
reputational threat and negative affect increases […], crisis managers should utilize crisis response strategies with the requisite level of accepting crisis responsibility” (Coombs, 2007, p. 172). For crises with strong attributions of crisis responsibility and crises that pose a severe reputational threat, rebuild crisis response strategies should be used (Coombs, 2007). An earlier study identified a gap between theory and practice concerning the use of crisis response strategies (Kim et al., 2009). However, as mentioned in the introduction, this study was conducted ten years ago. Meanwhile, information and communication technologies and the global flow of information changed to a great extent, which influenced crisis
communication (Sung & Hwang, 2014). Furthermore, organizations face an increasing number of crises nowadays (Institute for Crisis Management, 2018; Sung & Hwang, 2014). Therefore, it seems plausible that organizations needed to improve its crisis communication over the past years. Since preventable crises have very strong attributions of responsibility
and thereby pose a severe reputational threat, organizations should use the rebuild strategies. In order to examine whether organizations practice what is preached nowadays, the following hypothesis is formulated:
H1. Organizations involved in preventable crises use the rebuild crisis response strategies most frequent in its press releases.
Importance of news media, press releases, and news factors
Crisis communication and crisis response strategies can only save the corporate
reputation when it reaches its stakeholders. Most of the information stakeholders collect about an organizational crisis is provided by the news media and not by corporate communication (Coombs, 2007). Therefore, the news media are crucially important for organizations in times of crisis. Organizations need media coverage in order to reach its stakeholders and protect its reputation (Carroll & McCombs, 2003; Meijer & Kleinnijenhuis, 2006; Kiousis et al., 2007).
In order to reach the media, public relations (PR) professionals provide journalists with information subsidies such as press releases (Coombs, 2007; Schafraad et al., 2016). “The aim of such press releases is to get the organization’s story in the news and influence the amount of media attention that is beneficial for the organization” (Schafraad et al., 2016, p. 451). Issuing press releases is crucial for organizations because press releases are considered to be of great importance to the formation of the news media agenda (Kiousis et al., 2007; Schafraad et al., 2016), which is referred to as agenda building. Agenda building can be defined as the influence of external actors on the news media agenda, by providing
information subsidies, such as press releases, to the news media (Kiousis et al., 2007). Press releases provided by PR practitioners on behalf of an organization have a primary role in the
agenda building process because of its substantial influence on shaping the news media agenda (Kiousis et al., 2007; Schafraad et al., 2016).
Organizations try to enhance the chance on succession in the news media by using news factors in its press releases. News factors are certain characteristics of an event that determine the newsworthiness of that event (Eilders, 2006; Schafraad et al., 2016). The use of news factors is beneficial for organizations because “the more newsworthy an event is
considered to be by journalists, the more likely it will be selected for publication, and the more likely it will be prominently presented” (Eilders, 2006, p. 6). Press releases that contain one or more news factors are more successful in attracting coverage and attention in the news media than press releases without news factors (Eilders, 2006; Schafraad et al., 2016).
Earlier studies examined the use of news factors in press releases and showed that the news factors controversy, negative consequences, positive consequences, and reference to elite people are successful in attracting news media coverage (Eilders, 2006; Kroon &
Schafraad, 2003; Schafraad et al., 2016). Furthermore, a study of Schafraad, Van Zoonen and Verhoeven (2016) identified financial performance and employees and management as news factors within the field of business news. Based on these earlier studies, this research focuses on the abovementioned six news factors. The aim is to identify the news factors that
organizations involved in preventable crises use in press releases, which could be referred to as preventable crisis specific news factors. In addition to this exploratory research, it seems plausible that organizations use multiple news factors in its press releases because that
enhances the chance on succession in the news media, which is beneficial for organizations in order to reach stakeholders and protect the corporate reputation. Therefore, the second
hypothesis reads as follows:
H2. Organizations involved in preventable crises are likely to use multiple news factors in its press releases.
Framing
In general, framing involves selection, salience and emphasis on certain aspects of an event (Entman, 1993; Coombs, 2007). A well-known definition of framing is formulated by Entman (1993, p. 52): “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.” Framing refers to the selection of and emphasis on specific information, which influences stakeholders’ interpretation of an issue (Entman, 1993). The way a crisis is framed shapes how stakeholders define a crisis, causes of a crisis and attributions of responsibility for a crisis (Coombs, 2007).
Therefore, organizations frame a crisis in order to influence stakeholders’ interpretation of that crisis. Subsequently, by communicating with the news media, organizations have an influence on the news media, resulting in media coverage that is in favour of the organization (Veil & Ojeda, 2010), referred to as agenda setting. The agenda setting theory poses that: “Organized efforts to communicate a corporate agenda will result in a significant degree of correspondence between the attribute agenda of the firm and the news media” (Carroll & McCombs, 2003, p. 42). So, by providing information to the news media concerning a crisis, organizations can affect the frames that end up in news media (Kiousis et al., 2007; Veil & Ojeda, 2010). This is important for organizations since the frames presented in news media are often considered to be more credible than in corporate communication (Carroll & McCombs, 2003).
Furthermore, most of the information stakeholders collect about a crisis is provided by news media and not by corporate communication (Coombs, 2007). Therefore, news media are considered to be the final arbitrator of crisis frames. The frames that are used in news media
are the frames that most of the stakeholders will encounter and adopt (Coombs, 2007). So, by presenting its own interpretation of a crisis, organizations frame the crisis, while the news media can modify these frames and frame the crisis in a different manner. News media can select and emphasize the same or different aspects of a crisis and thereby shape stakeholders’ interpretation of that crisis (Coombs, 2007; Nijkrake et al., 2014). For example, organizations can emphasize solutions to a crisis in order to gain public support, whereas the news media can emphasize preventable causes of the crisis and thereby increase attributions of crisis responsibility among stakeholders.
Druckman (2004) distinguished two types of framing: equivalency framing and issue framing. Equivalency framing “typically involves casting the same information in either a positive or negative light” (Druckman, 2004, p. 671). This concept is operationalized as the variable ‘tone’ in this study. Issue framing refers to “situations where, by emphasizing a subset of potentially relevant considerations, a speaker leads individuals to focus on these considerations when constructing their opinions” (Druckman, 2004, p. 672). This concept is operationalized as the variable ‘news frames’ in this study.
News frames and tone
The content of corporate communication and news media is characterized by the presence of news frames. News frames emphasize certain aspects of an event and can affect and shape the interpretation of stakeholders concerning a crisis (De Vreese, 2005). News frames have a direct influence on what enters the mind of the audience (Price et al., 1997). Therefore, the concept news frames can function as the operationalization of Druckman’s (2004) issue frames, which “focus on qualitatively different yet potentially relevant considerations” (p. 672) and “cause individuals to focus on certain characterizations of an issue” (p. 672). Previous studies identified the news frames that are frequently present. This study will utilize the five news frames that were used in Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000)
study: human interest frame, conflict frame, morality frame, economic consequences frame, and responsibility frame. These frames are not exhaustive and multiple frames can be present at the same time (De Vreese, 2005).
The human interest frame is present when an emotional angle or human face is brought to an event. This frame is used in order to capture and retain the interest of the audience (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The presence of this frame, when reporting about a crisis, stimulates the psychological pulse of the audience which subsequently leads to a more negative attitude toward that crisis (An & Gower, 2009). The conflict frame is present when a conflict or disagreement among individuals, groups, or institutions is emphasized (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). This frame is frequently present in news media concerning a crisis and can contribute to the attribution of blame toward the organization that is related to the crisis (Nijkrake et al., 2014). The morality frame is present when an event is put in the context of moral or social prescriptions and/or religious tenets (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The economic consequences frame is present when an event is reported in terms of the economic consequences the event will have on an individual, group, institution, region, or country (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). Lastly, the responsibility frame is present when an event is reported in terms of the attribution of responsibility for the cause and/or solution to an
individual, group, government, or organization (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The presence of this frame might stimulate the formation of a negative attitude toward a crisis and toward the organization that is deemed responsible for the crisis (Nijkrake et al., 2014).
It often occurs that news media use other frames than the ones used by organizations (Nijkrake et al., 2014). While organizations may try to frame a crisis as positive as possible in order to minimize the reputational threat, this is not the first priority of news media, which may try to frame a crisis as objective or sensational as possible. News media often reframe events in order to keep a story fresh and alive (McCombs, 2004), because of a lack of
sufficient information about a crisis (Nijkrake et al., 2014), and/or because corporate communication can sometimes be treated with skepticism (Miller & Riechert, 2000). A previous study examined the use of news frames by organizations and the news media and showed that news media often reframed the organization’s crisis communication (Nijkrake et al., 2014). Furthermore, earlier studies showed that the responsibility and human interest frame are the most used news frames in the news media, especially concerning preventable crises (An & Gower, 2009), and that the news media frame a crisis often in terms of conflict (Nijkrake et al., 2014). Based on these earlier studies, the third hypothesis reads as follows:
H3. News media use the conflict frame, the responsibility frame and the human interest frame more frequent than organizations concerning a preventable crisis.
Organizations primarily want to repair its reputation in times of crisis, whereas news media primarily want to inform and entertain (Nijkrake et al., 2014). Since the conflict, the responsibility and the human interest frame might stimulate a more negative attitude toward the crisis and the organization responsible for the crisis (An & Gower, 2009; Nijkrake et al., 2014), it seems plausible that organizations do not use these news frames. In order to acquire public support, organizations involved in a preventable crisis can use the morality and economic consequences frame in its press releases. Organizations could focus on how the organization has been a good moral citizen in the past (An & Gower, 2009) or focus on the investments that will be made concerning solutions to the problem. Therefore, the fourth hypothesis reads as follows:
H4. Organizations use the morality frame and the economic consequences frame more frequent than news media concerning a preventable crisis.
In addition to the variation in the use of news frames between the news media and organizations, it can also be expected that news media use more frames than organizations. The reframing of a crisis by news media is not solely manifested by using different frames, but also by using more frames (Nijkrake et al., 2014). On the one hand, news media can use more frames than organizations for the same reasons different frames are used, as explained above. Furthermore, more frames can be used as news media have, for example, access to different information and alternative sources, such as eyewitnesses, experts, (former) employees or whistle-blowers.
On the other hand, organizations might use less frames than news media for two reasons. Firstly, using less frames might increase the effects of the frames that are used. An experimental study conducted by Druckman (2004) indicated that framing effects are not pervasive when different frames are presented to the audience. As the use of multiple frames limit or even eliminate the framing effects (Druckman, 2004), it seems plausible that
organizations use less frames in order to benefit from the framing effects.
Furthermore, given that news frames activate explicit thoughts and responses among the audience, as explained above, the presence of multiple news frames indicates that multiple thoughts and responses are activated among the audience. For example, the presence of the human interest frame stimulates a more negative attitude toward a crisis (An & Gower, 2009), the conflict frame can contribute to the attribution of blame toward an organization, and the responsibility frame might stimulate the formation of a negative attitude toward a crisis and the responsible organization (Nijkrake et al., 2014). When these three frames are all present in either a newspaper article or press release, all the corresponding thoughts and responses are activated among the audience, which is an accumulation of negative thoughts and responses. Therefore, as organizations try to minimize negative affect, it seems plausible that
Lastly, a previous study examined the use of news frames by organizations in press releases and the news media concerning an accidental crisis and showed that the number of news frames used by the news media was on average almost twice as much as the number of news frames used by organizations (Nijkrake et al., 2014). Overall, this leads to the following hypothesis:
H5. The average number of news frames is higher in the news media than in press releases concerning a preventable crisis.
In addition to the use of news frames, a message can be framed in terms of the tone. The tone can be positive, neutral, or negative, and influences the public to think in a certain way about a crisis (Nijkrake et al., 2014; Wonneberger & Jacobs, 2017). Similar to news frames, multiple studies showed that the tone in news media significantly affects the opinion of the public (Carroll & McCombs, 2003; Kim, Carvalho & Cooksey, 2007; Nijkrake et al., 2014), and can therefore be considered as an important variable of news media coverage for organizations in times of a crisis. Previous studies showed that crisis communication can limit negative media coverage concerning a crisis (Ritchie, Dorell, Miller & Miller, 2004). Even though the tone of the communication about a crisis is rarely positive, given the different goals of news media and organizations in times of a crisis, it is possible that the tone differs to a certain extent. As the primary goal of organizations involved in preventable crises is to minimize the reputational threat and save the corporate reputation, whereas the goal of news media is to inform and entertain, the last hypothesis reads as follows:
H6. News media frame its communication about a preventable crisis more negatively compared to organizations.
Besides the possible variation in the framing of preventable crises between press releases and newspapers concerning the use of news frames and the tone, it is also possible that there is a difference among newspapers covering the same crises. Goals of the news media are primarily to inform and entertain (McCombs, 1997). However, it is possible that one newspaper is more focused on informing whereas another newspaper is more focused on entertaining, which could be reflected in the use of news frames and the tone. A previous study showed that the more ‘serious’ a newspaper is, the more likely that different frames are used, such as the conflict and economic consequences frame (An & Gower, 2009). To
examine whether and what differences exist among newspapers concerning the framing of preventable crises, the seventh and last hypothesis reads as follows:
H7. There is a variation in the framing of preventable crises among newspapers concerning both the use of news frames and the tone.
Methods
In order to answer the research question a quantitative content analysis will be conducted of press releases and newspaper articles concerning organizational crises. By means of a content analysis, press releases of organizations in crisis are compared with news media coverage concerning that crisis, focusing on the tone and the presence of news frames in press releases and newspaper articles. Furthermore, the crisis response strategies and presence of news factors are examined in press releases only.
Selection of research units
Organizational crises. This research examines press releases and newspaper articles concerning organizational crises that occurred in the past three years. In order to select the
crisis sample, an Internet search was conducted for organizational crises that occurred in the past three years using search engines (e.g. Google). Search terms were for example: PR crises, PR disasters, biggest organizational crises and business crises, accompanied by 2016, 2017, or 2018. In addition, the 2017 annual crisis report of the Institute for Crisis Management (ICM) was consulted, which is a research-based crisis management consulting firm. This report contains statistics regarding the global news coverage of organizational crises and describes which organizations encountered a crisis. Organizations involved in preventable crises that were found in this report are for instance: Uber, Wells Fargo, Papa John’s, Equifax, and United Airlines (ICM, 2018).
To be selected for the crisis sample, a crisis had to meet five requirements. Firstly, the crisis fits within the preventable cluster as identified by Coombs (2007). When the crisis concerned a human-error accident, human-error product harm, organizational misdeed with or without injuries, or organizational misdeed management misconduct, the crisis can be
considered as a preventable crisis (Coombs, 2007). Secondly, the organization is an American corporate organization. Thirdly, one or more press releases are available concerning the crisis. Fourthly, the crisis was visible in multiple newspapers. Lastly, in order to examine data that are as recent as possible, the crisis occurred in the past three years (2016, 2017 or 2018). Based on the results of this search, a crisis sample is selected consisting of 17 organizational crises.
Press releases. A total of 40 press releases were collected from the corporate websites concerning the 17 organizational crises. See Table 1 for an overview of the selected crises, the number of press releases per crisis, and a short explanation of each crisis.
Newspapers. This research analyzed newspaper articles concerning organizational crises covered by five major newspapers, namely: New York Times, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Mercury News. These newspapers are considered to be
quality newspapers and have the highest circulation rates after The Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune, which unfortunately are not available on LexisNexis and therefore had to be excluded.
Newspaper articles. Newspaper articles published in these five newspapers were collected through LexisNexis using the key words of the organization’s names and the related crisis. In addition to being present in the article itself, the organization’s name had to be present in the headline in order to exclude irrelevant articles that did not concern the
organizational crisis. The time period of the newspaper articles was limited to one month after the first press release was issued. For example, when a press release was issued on 01-01-2018, the time period of the newspaper articles was from 01-01-2018 to 01-02-2018. See Table 1 for the dates of the first press releases, presented under the organization’s name.
Since some crises, such as a crisis of Facebook, are covered in more than 200 newspaper articles within the time period, a selection is made. This selection is made via an online random generator. A total of 500 newspaper articles related to the organizational crises were selected for the final sample in the five newspapers. Thereof, 495 remained after
excluding newspaper articles during the coding process that did not cover an organizational crisis: New York Times (n = 154), New York Post (n = 80), Los Angeles Times (n = 7), Washington Post (n = 195), and Mercury News (n = 59). See Table 1 for the number of newspaper articles per crisis.
Table 1
Overview and description of crises, number of press releases and newspaper articles Organization release(s) Press Newspaper articles Short description of crisis Mylan
25-08-2016 4 41
Crossed ethical boundaries by overpricing the EpiPen, which is a life-saving drug. The price increased with 400% between 2009 and 2016.
Wells Fargo
08-09-2016 4 40
Employees opened 2 million deposit and credit accounts in customer’s names without their consent in order to meet sales quotas and earn bonuses.
Uber
29-01-2017 1 40
Uber lifted surge pricing during an organised taxi protest against Trump’s travel ban at New York’s JFK Airport. Pepsi
05-04-2017 1 30 Launched controversial advertisement with Kendall Jenner. Pepsi got accused of trivializing Black Lives Matter Movement. United Airlines
10-04-2017 5 36 Four security officers violently removed a passenger from a plane who refused to give up its seat for the overbooked flight. Equifax
07-09-2017 3 40
Data breach affecting 143 million Americans. Equifax was aware of security flaw two months before but did not improve security. The flaw allowed hackers to control the website. Dove
09-10-2017 1 11
Launched controversial advertisement accused of racism. The advertisement showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman after been washed with Dove.
Apple
28-12-2017 1 39
Apple admits slowing the performance of older iPhones. Accused of doing this in order to increase sales. Apple denies. H&M
09-01-2018 2 8
Launched controversial advertisement accused of racism. The advertisement showed a black child wearing a shirt with the phrase “coolest monkey in the jungle”.
Doritos
05-02-2018 1 8
CEO said Doritos would launch Lady Doritos for women because they eat chips differently than men. After enormous backlash, Doritos stated a day later that it was all a mistake. Snapchat
15-03-2018 1 6
Showed an offensive advertisement making light of domestic violence, violating its own advertising guidelines.
Facebook 1
16-03-2018 4 46
Cambridge Analytica used the personal data of 87 million Facebook users for political purposes without their consent. The data was taken in a way that was within Facebook’s policies. Facebook 2
28-09-2018 3 24
Security breach affecting a maximum of 90 million Facebook users. Afterwards, Facebook fixed the vulnerability and secured the accounts.
Starbucks
14-04-2018 4 40
Racial bias incident. Two black men were arrested in a Starbucks after the manager called the police. The men were waiting on a friend and refused to leave.
18-07-2018 1 38
Google received a $5 billion fine from the European Union on antitrust grounds for abusing the dominance of its Android operating system.
Tesla
07-08-2018 3 40
CEO Musk tweeted that he wanted to take Tesla private at $420 (per share) and that the funding was secured. Accused and fined for deception and manipulating the stock market.
Papa John’s
14-11-2017 1 8
Blamed the NFL and its leadership for low pizza sales. The NFL should have ‘resolved’ the national anthem protests started by Colin Kaepernick to draw attention to racial inequality.
Research design
In this research, a quantitative research design is used and a content analysis is employed that analyzed multiple variables. The four variables that were measured are: crisis response strategies, news factors, tone, and news frames. In order to measure these different variables, a codebook has been developed. The codebook comprised five parts. The first part concerns formal categories, the second part concerns crisis response strategies, the third part concerns news factors, the fourth part concerns the tone, and the fifth part concerns news frames. See Appendix A for the codebook.
Measurement of variables
Crisis response strategy. To measure which crisis response strategy is present in a press release, the coder had to answer present (1) or not present (0) for each of the seven crisis response strategies. The deny crisis response strategies comprise three specific strategies. Attack the accuser (0%) is present when a crisis manager confronts the person or group claiming something is wrong with the organization. Denial (10%) is present when a crisis manager asserts that there is no crisis. Scapegoat (22.5%) is present when a crisis manager blames some person or group outside of the organization for the crisis. The diminish crisis response strategies comprise two specific strategies. Excuse (32.5%) is present when a crisis manager minimizes organizational responsibility by denying intent to do harm and/or claiming inability to control the events that triggered the crisis. Justification (5%) is present when a crisis manager minimizes the perceived damage caused by the crisis. The rebuild crisis response strategies comprise two specific strategies. Compensation (35%) is present when a crisis manager offers money or other gifts to victims. Apology (37.5%) is present
when a crisis manager indicates that the organization takes full responsibility for the crisis and asks stakeholders for forgiveness. The coding scheme is developed based on Coombs’ (2007, p. 170) definitions of the crisis response strategies. See the codebook for examples of each strategy.
News factors. To measure which news factors are present in a press release, the coder had to answer present (1) or not present (0) for each of the six news factors. The coding scheme of Schafraad, Van Zoonen and Verhoeven (2016), based on Eilders (2006), is used. Controversy (2.5%) is present when different opinions are presented; there have to be two parties. Negative consequences (25%) is present when negative consequences are explicitly stated; these can be economic, political, psychological, physical, or social in nature. Positive consequences (17.5%) is present when positive consequences are explicitly stated. Reference to elite people (47.5%) is present when a reference is made to the social power of a group, institution, their representatives, or individual people, such as the CEO of an organization. Financial performance (5%) is present when the financial performance of an organization is described; this can be positive or negative. Lastly, employees and management (40%) is present when a reference is made to employees and/or management of the organization; this can be positive or negative.
Tone. To measure the tone of a document, a five-point Likert scale is employed ranging from very negative (-2) to very positive (+2). This scale is used in previous studies to measure the tone (Nijkrake et al., 2014; Wonneberger & Jacobs 2017). The tone (M = -1.47, SD = 0.75) of the document is neutral (0) when the document is solely informative, and no positive or negative terms are present. The tone is negative (-1) when 1 or 2 negative terms are present regarding (the actions of) the organization. The tone is very negative (-2) when 3 or more negative terms are present. Every word that contains a negative connotation can be considered as a negative term. The same guidelines are used for a positive tone with positive
terms. For further details and examples, see the codebook.
News frames. To measure the extent to which certain news frames are present in a document, the coding scheme of Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) is used, consisting of a total of 22 questions to which the coder had to answer yes (1) or no (0). This is an existing and validated scale that measures the five news frames (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The human interest frame (79.3%) is present when an emotional angle or human face is brought to an event. The conflict frame (70.7%) is present when a conflict or disagreement among individuals, groups, or institutions is emphasized. The morality frame (33.3%) is present when an event is put in the context of moral or social prescriptions and/or religious tenets. The economic consequences frame (42.4%) is present when an event is reported in terms of the economic consequences the event will have on an individual, group, institution, region, or country. The responsibility frame (78.1%) is present when an event is reported in terms of the attribution of responsibility for the cause and/or solution to an individual, group, government, or organization (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). For each document, the presence of news frames were analyzed by answering three or more questions that measured one of the five news frames. Multiple frames can be present in one document. See the codebook for the 22 questions that measure the news frames and for the operationalization of all variables.
Reliability
The variables were measured by one coder who coded all press releases and
newspaper articles by answering the questions from the codebook. The coder was under strict instructions to read the whole document thoroughly in order to answer the questions as precise as possible. In order to establish the reliability, the intra-coder reliability is measured by recoding 50% of the press releases and 10% of the newspaper articles. A total of 20 press
releases and 50 newspaper articles were coded twice in order to calculate the intra-coder reliability. The results indicated a high reliability (mean Krippendorff’s α: 0.89). See Table 2 for an overview of the variables with the corresponding intra-coder reliability scores. See Appendix B for the Krippendorff scores of the 22 questions that measure the five news frames. In Table 2, the means are presented of the multiple questions that measure the news frames.
Table 2
Krippendorff scores for all variables
Variables Krippendorff’s
alpha Crisis response strategies
Attack the accuser 1
Denial 0.83 Scapegoat 0.86 Excuse 0.80 Justification 1 Compensation 0.88 Apology 0.90 News factors Controversy 1 Negative consequences 0.86 Positive consequences 0.83 Reference to elite people 0.80
Financial performance 1
Employees & management 0.90
Tone 0.87 News frames Human interest 0.86 Conflict 0.84 Morality 0.87 Economic consequences 0.86 Responsibility 0.89
Results
Hypothesis 1
The first hypothesis posed that organizations involved in preventable crises use the rebuild crisis response strategies most frequent in its press releases. In order to test the first hypothesis, the frequencies of the crisis response strategies used in the press releases are examined. The crisis response strategy that is used most frequent is the apology strategy and thereafter the compensation strategy. The findings therefore support the hypothesis. See Table 3 for the frequencies and percentages of each crisis response strategy.
Table 3
Frequencies and percentages of crisis response strategies
Note: N = 40
Crisis response strategy Frequency % Deny crisis response strategies
Attack the accuser 0 0
Denial 4 10
Scapegoat 9 22.5
Diminish crisis response strategies
Excuse 13 32.5
Justification 2 5
Rebuild crisis response strategies
Compensation 14 35
Hypothesis 2
The second hypothesis posed that organizations involved in preventable crises are likely to use multiple news factors in its press releases. The explorative aim is to identify the news factors that organizations involved in preventable crises use in press releases, which could be referred to as preventable crisis specific news factors. In order to identify these, the frequencies and descriptive statistics of the news factors used in the press releases are
examined. The news factor that is used most often is the reference to elite people news factor (47.5%), followed by the employees and management news factor (40%). See Table 4 for the frequencies and percentages of each news factor.
Table 4
Frequencies and percentages of news factors
Note: N = 40
In order to test the hypothesis, the six variables, that each represents one news factor, are computed into one new variable in order to have one variable that includes all six news factors. This variable includes values from 0 to 3, which represent the number of distinctive news factors that is used in one press release; the maximum number of news frames used in one press release is 3 (Mo = 2). On average, a press release used 1.38 news factors (SD =
News factors Frequency %
Controversy 1 2.5
Negative consequences 10 25
Positive consequences 7 17.5
Reference to elite people 19 47.5
Financial performance 2 5
0.98). It can be questioned whether this result confirms the hypothesis; can a mean of 1.38 be seen as multiple? Therefore, the descriptive statistics are further examined, specifically the mode. The descriptive statistics reveal that the mode is 2 (35%). This indicates that
organizations are most likely to use two distinctive news factors in one press release. Therefore, these findings support the second hypothesis.
Hypothesis 3 and 4
The third hypothesis posed that news media use the conflict frame, the responsibility frame and the human interest frame more frequent than organizations, whereas the fourth hypothesis posed that organizations use the morality frame and the economic consequences frame more frequent than news media concerning a preventable crisis. In order to test the third and fourth hypothesis, multiple Fisher’s exact tests are conducted. Before the tests could be conducted, the variables had to be computed. The 22 questions, that measure the five news frames, are computed into five variables that represent the five news frames. These five variables are recoded into dummy variables. For every news frame, one Fisher’s exact test is conducted in order to examine the differences between newspapers and press releases concerning the use of that frame, regarding all crises.
The Fisher’s exact tests that revealed significant differences were those that examined the differences between newspapers and press releases regarding the use of the human interest frame, the conflict frame, and the morality frame. Concerning the human interest frame and the conflict frame, newspapers use these frames, on average, significantly more frequent than press releases. Concerning the morality frame, press releases use the frame, on average, significantly more frequent than newspapers. However, the associations were weak.
examined the differences between newspapers and press releases regarding the use of the economic consequences frame and the responsibility frame. See Table 5 for an overview of the results of the Fisher’s exact tests.
Table 5
Results of the Fisher’s exact tests
Note: N = 495 for newspaper articles; N = 40 for press releases
These findings indicate that the third hypothesis is partly confirmed. News media do use the conflict frame and the human interest frame significantly more frequent than
organizations, but there is no significant difference between the news media and organizations regarding the use of the responsibility frame. The fourth hypothesis is also partly confirmed by the findings. Organizations do use the morality frame significantly more frequent than news media, but no significant difference is found between organizations and news media regarding the use of the economic consequences frame.
Hypothesis 5
The fifth hypothesis posed that the average number of news frames is higher in the news media than in press releases concerning a preventable crisis. In order to test the fifth hypothesis, an independent samples t-test is conducted to compare the difference in the number of distinctive news frames between press releases and newspapers. Before the test
News frames Newspaper
articles Press releases p tau Human interest 83.2% 30% < .001 0.119 Conflict 74.7% 20% < .001 0.100 Morality 29.5% 80% < .001 0.079 Economic consequences 43.6% 27.5% n.s. Responsibility 78% 80% n.s.
could be conducted, the variables had to be computed. The 22 questions, that measure the five news frames, are computed into five variables that represent the five news frames. These five variables are recoded into dummy variables and subsequently computed into one variable that represents the average number of distinctive news frames that is present in a document. On average, the total number of distinctive news frames per document is higher in newspapers (M = 3.09, SD = 1.23) than in press releases (M = 2.38, SD = 0.90). This small to moderate
difference is significant t (533) = 3.62, p = < .001, 95% CI [0.33, 1.11], d = 0.31. The findings therefore support the fifth hypothesis.
Hypothesis 6
The sixth hypothesis posed that news media frame its communication about a preventable crisis more negatively compared to organizations. In order to test the sixth hypothesis, an independent samples t-test is conducted to compare the difference in tone between press releases and newspapers. On average, the tone in newspapers (M = -1.58, SD = 0.61) is more negative than the tone in press releases (M = -0.05, SD = 0.85). This difference is significant t (533) = -14.83, p = < .001, 95% CI [-1.74, -1.33]. The findings of the
independent-samples t-test therefore support the sixth hypothesis.
Hypothesis 7
The seventh hypothesis posed that there is a variation in the framing of preventable crises among newspapers concerning both the use of news frames and the tone. In order to test the seventh hypothesis, a total of six one-way ANOVA’s are conducted, one for each news frame and one for the tone. The one-way ANOVA’s that revealed significant differences
were those that examined the differences between the five newspapers regarding the use of the human interest frame, the conflict frame, the morality frame, the responsibility frame, and the tone. No significant difference was found regarding the use of the economic consequences frame.
Firstly, the findings showed a significant difference concerning the use of the human interest frame, F (4, 490) = 2.46, p = 0.045. There is a small effect of the type of newspaper on the use of the human interest frame, eta2 = 0.02. Secondly, the findings showed significant difference concerning the use of the conflict frame, F (4, 490) = 8.58, p = < .001. There is a medium effect of the type of newspaper on the use of the conflict frame, eta2 = 0.07. Thirdly, the findings showed a significant difference concerning the use of the morality frame, F (4, 490) = 4.74, p = .001. There is a small to medium effect of the type of newspaper on the use of the conflict frame, eta2 = 0.04. Fourthly, the findings showed a significant difference concerning the use of the responsibility frame, F (4, 490) = 8.11, p < .001. There is a small to medium effect of the type of newspaper on the use of the conflict frame, eta2 = 0.06. Lastly, the ANOVA showed a significant difference concerning the tone of an article, F (4, 490) = 9.72, p < .001. There is a small to medium effect of the type of newspaper on the tone, eta2 = 0.07.
The seventh hypothesis posed that there is a variation in the framing of preventable crises among newspapers concerning both the use of news frames and the tone. Therefore, the findings support the seventh hypothesis. See Table 6 for an overview of the means and
standard deviations of the five newspapers concerning its use of the news frames and the tone. See Table 7 for the significant differences between the newspapers regarding the use of news frames and the tone, revealed by Bonferroni post hoc tests.
Newspapers
News frames
Tone Human
interest Conflict Morality
Economic
consequences Responsibility
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
New York Times 0.88 0.33 0.83 0.38 0.27 0.45 0.42 0.49 0.81 0.40 -1.67 0.58 New York Post 0.83 0.38 0.69 0.47 0.18 0.38 0.40 0.49 0.70 0.46 -1.49 0.64 Los Angeles Times 1.00 0 0.86 0.38 0.14 0.38 0.71 0.49 0.86 0.38 -2.00 0.00 Washington Post 0.83 0.38 0.78 0.41 0.39 0.49 0.48 0.50 0.86 0.35 -1.66 0.54 Mercury News 0.71 0.46 0.47 0.50 0.20 0.41 0.44 0.50 0.54 0.50 -1.19 0.71 Note: N = 495
Table 6
Use of news frames and the tone by newspapers
Table 7
Results of the Bonferroni post hoc tests
Variable Newspaper Newspaper Mdifference p
Human interest frame NY Times Mercury News 0.17 < .040
Conflict frame NY Times Mercury News 0.36 < .001
NY Post Mercury News 0.21 < .034
Washington Post Mercury News 0.31 < .001 Morality frame Washington Post NY Post 0.22 < .003 Washington Post Mercury News 0.19 < .043 Responsibility frame NY Times Mercury News 0.26 < .001 Washington Post NY Post 0.16 < .027 Washington Post Mercury News 0.32 < .001
Tone Mercury News NY Times 0.48 < .001
Mercury News NY Post 0.30 < .030
Mercury News LA Times 0.81 < .006
Mercury News Washington Post 0.47 < .001 Note: N = 495
Conclusion and discussion
This study aimed to answer the following research question: What crisis response strategies and news factors are used most frequent by organizations in press releases
concerning preventable crises, and to what extent do press releases affect the framing in the news media? To answer this research question, press releases of organizations involved in preventable crises and newspaper articles covering those crises were examined by means of a quantitative content analysis.
Concerning the use of crisis response strategies, the results indicate that the apology and compensation strategy were used most frequent by organizations involved in preventable crises. In contrast to the study conducted by Kim, Avery and Lariscy (2009) that examined the use of crisis response strategies by organizations, this study showed that organizations do practice what is preached by crisis communication research. The findings are consistent with the guidelines provided by the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (Coombs, 2007), which poses that rebuild strategies should be utilized for crises with strong attributions of responsibility, such as preventable crises. However, it should be noted that, in contrast to the SCCT guidelines, organizations also used the excuse strategy frequently. The SCCT
recommends that diminish crisis response strategies should be used for crises with minimal or low attributions of crisis responsibility, such as victim and accidental crises, and not for preventable crises (Coombs, 2007). This finding indicates that the gap between theory and practice is still not as solid as it should be.
This study identified a number of news factors to be present in press releases of organizations involved in preventable crises. The news factors that are used most frequent are reference to elite people and employees & management, which can therefore be referred to as preventable crisis specific news factors. It is not surprising that the news factor positive
consequences is not frequently used by organizations, given that there are in general no positive consequences related to a preventable crisis. It is also not surprising that the news factors controversy and negative consequences are not frequently used, since those news factors emphasize negative aspects of a crisis. As the goal of a crisis response is to minimize the reputational threat that can be caused by a crisis, it is logical that organizations do not emphasize the negative aspects.
Therefore, the frequent use of the news factors reference to elite people and employees & management can considered to be in line with the overall aim of crisis communication: to limit the negative affect of the crisis and save the corporate reputation. A reference to for example the CEO of an organization can strengthen the reputation of the organization. As the image of a CEO is closely linked to that of the organization, a CEO’s good reputation and credibility can be attributed to the organization (Denner, Heitzler & Koch, 2018).
Furthermore, the results showed that organizations are likely to use multiple news factors in press releases. This finding is in line with the expectations. Since press releases that contain news factors are more successful in attracting media attention than press releases without news factors (Schafraad et al., 2016), it is beneficial for organizations to incorporate multiple news factors in its press releases in order to enhance the chance on succession in the media, reach stakeholders and protect the corporate reputation.
Previous studies posed that by communicating with the news media, organizations involved in a crisis have an influence on the news media, resulting in media coverage that is in favour of the organization (Veil & Ojeda, 2010). By providing information to news media concerning a crisis, organizations can have an influence on the media frame (Veil & Ojeda, 2010). However, the results of this study are not consistent with these previous studies, and show that press releases of organizations involved in preventable crises do not affect the
framing in news media concerning those crises. The findings show that news media consistently reframe the organization’s crisis response.
These findings indicate that in case of a preventable crisis, an organization’s crisis communication does not affect the framing in the news media. Therefore, additional measures should be applied in order to reach the stakeholders and minimize the reputational threat. Firstly, crisis managers should enhance relationships with journalists in order to affect the framing in the news media, which is further discussed below in the practical implications section. Secondly, crisis managers could focus (more) on social media. Social media are considered as equivalent to traditional news media because of the direct impact social media have on the public, similar as traditional the gatekeepers (Sung & Hwang, 2014). The use of social media has strongly increased, whereas the traditional newspaper readership decreased more than 50% (Sung & Hwang, 2014). Therefore, in order to eliminate the ‘problem’ of news media reframing an organization’s crisis communication, crisis managers can disseminate the crisis response through social media.
Concerning the use of news frames, the results showed that there is a significant difference in the use of news frames between organizations and news media. News media use the conflict frame significantly more often than organizations, consistent with the findings of Nijkrake, Gosselt and Gutteling (2014), and news media use the human interest frame
significantly more often than organizations, consistent with the findings of An and Gower (2009), which showed that the human interest frame is predominant in news media covering preventable crises. Organizations use the morality frame significantly more often than news media. However, no significant differences were found between news media and
organizations concerning the use of the economic consequences and responsibility frame, contradictory to previous studies (An & Gower, 2009; Nijkrake et al., 2014). The findings indicate that news media use the human interest frame, followed by the responsibility frame,
most frequent concerning preventable crises, which is in line with the study of An and Gower (2009). However, An and Gower (2009) also found the morality frame to be predominant in news media, which is not found in this research. Furthermore, this study showed that the average number of distinctive news frames per document is significantly higher in
newspapers than in press releases, consistent with the findings of Nijkrake et al. (2014). Since news media use different and more news frames, the framing effects are limited or even eliminated (Druckman, 2004). Therefore, the initial and wanted effects of the use of news frames by organizations are (also) eliminated. The consequence for an organization is that it can be questioned whether its aim to influence stakeholders’ interpretation of a crisis, by presenting its own interpretation and framing the crisis, has been achieved or not. In short, whether the crisis communication has been effective or not.
Ritchie, Dorrell, Miller and Miller (2004) posed that managing crisis communication through a crisis response can limit negative media coverage concerning a crisis. A previous study showed that there is a positive correlation between the tone in a press release and the tone in the news media (Kiousis et al., 2007). However, this study showed that the tone is, on average, significantly more negative in newspapers than in press releases. The crisis response therefore did not succeed in preventing negative media coverage. These results are consistent with the findings of Nijkrake, Gosselt and Gutteling (2014), but not consistent with the findings of Kiousis, Popescu & Mitrook (2007).
In addition to the differences between press releases and newspapers in the framing of a crisis, significant differences were found between the five newspapers. Concerning both the use of news frames and the tone, the five newspapers framed preventable crises differently. These findings indicate that the framing of a press release concerning a preventable crisis did not affect the framing in any of the newspapers, as they all framed the crisis in its own way.
This emphasizes again that crisis managers should enhance relationships with journalists and should search for other measures in order to affect the framing in news media
In sum, communicating the organization’s side of the story by framing the crisis in a certain manner through press releases did not affect the framing in the news media. Despite previous studies showing that press releases affect the media frame, this study showed quite the opposite. Concerning the use of news frames and the tone, the news media framed a preventable crisis constantly different than organizations.
Practical implications
The results of this study have practical implications for crisis managers. Firstly, as the bridge between crisis communication theory and practice is not as solid as it should be after decades of research, crisis managers should constantly consider the guidelines provided by scientific research concerning the use of crisis response strategies. In case of a preventable crisis, a rebuild strategy should be used because it is the most effective way to reduce
negative affect (Coombs, 2007). The use of the appropriate strategy increases the reputational repair effectiveness, which is the most important goal of a crisis response. Crisis managers can and should benefit from the evidence-based set of guidelines provided by the SCCT in order to make informed choices concerning using crisis response strategies.
A second important practical implication is that crisis managers should be aware that the framing of a crisis in a press release does not affect the framing of that crisis in the news media. This study showed that, in case of a preventable crisis, the news media constantly reframe the organization’s crisis response. Since press releases do not affect the news media to an extent that is beneficial for organizations, additional measures should be applied. For example, improving the relationships with journalists and the news media. Multiple studies
examined the relationship between PR practitioners and journalists and emphasize the importance of good relationships as a means to get the desired media coverage (Jackson & Moloney, 2016; Macnamara, 2014; Sallot & Johnson, 2006). However, journalists hold PR practitioners responsible for developing such relationships (Sallot & Johnson, 2006). Therefore, crisis managers should put effort into developing good relationships with journalists in order to affect the framing in the news media.
Limitations
This study has several limitations. The first limitation concerns the research method. As all other research methods, quantitative content analysis has a limitation, namely: the risk of bias. It is nearly impossible to devise a codebook that does not entail some interpretation on the part of the coder (Bryman, 2016). Even though a great effort was made in order to ensure that the codebook did not entail interpretability, some interpretation is inevitable.
The second limitation concerns the type of media coverage that is employed for this research. This study focused solely on media coverage in newspapers. However, considering the rise of online media and social media, these should be incorporated in future research in order to gain an extended comprehension and insight into the coverage of organizational crises.
The third limitation concerns the external validity, which can be considered weak. The findings cannot be generalized because the crisis sample is not representative of all types of preventable crises. The examination of different types of preventable crises might have influenced the results. Further research should focus on one type of preventable crisis, as identified by Coombs (2007), in order to enhance the comparative aspect. Furthermore, the different newspapers had an unequal distribution of the amount of relevant articles. Since the
framing of a crisis can be established more precise when more articles are available, this might have been problematic for the newspapers with fewer articles. A larger sample of press releases would also have increased the external validity.
Further research
Further research should incorporate multiple media outlets in order to gain extended insight into the coverage of organizational crises, such as online media and social media. The use of these media is increasing, whereas newspaper readership is decreasing (Sung & Hwang, 2014). Therefore, traditional news media probably do not reach all the relevant stakeholders of an organization. Secondly, further research should focus on one type of preventable crisis to be able to generalize the findings. Thirdly, further research should examine the agenda building power of the news factors that are identified in this study as preventable crisis specific news factors. Lastly, this study showed insights into the
understanding of how the framing of a press release concerning a preventable crisis affects the framing in the news media of that crisis, which is in short: no effect. Further research should therefore examine how a press release can influence the framing in the news media by
examining to what extent a good relationship between PR practitioners and journalists affects the difference in framing between organizations and news media.
References
An, S. K., & Gower, K. K. (2009). How do the news media frame crises? A content analysis of crisis news coverage. Public Relations Review, 35(2), 107-112.
