A discussion thread I created for my Strategic Communications MBA Course...
The story of flight MH370 highlights the power of speculation, power/control and the danger of editorial influence in communicating to a mass audience. Especially in a 24-hour media environment further enhanced with the "constant on" of social media, public relations and corporate communications have to be accessible, and fast to maintain control and provide accurate information as it is available.
Clearly in this case, there was no information readily available. Which, as many class members have noted, is extremely frustrating and confusing given the magnitude of a commercial jet! Nonetheless, beyond the absence of fact, there was little to no coordination of the search effort. At least, none that was effectively communicated to the public. The international flight had multiple stakeholders with varying levels of interest and liability in owning the situation. Clearly, this was a "sender" problem. Who was in charge of releasing information? The airline? Malaysian government officials? China? A magical international crisis team (oh wait, that doesn't exist).
With no clear responsible party assuming accountability to serve as the source of information, the editorial race began with commercial "news" outlets vying for pole position to have exclusive information. These sources of data/information are not truly accountable to the countries, airlines, or families of those involved in the tragedy (I'll hold my tongue on journalistic integrity and their responsibility to general public for another day/rant).
For us in the United States, these media sources are accountable to those who are paying to advertise on their networks...so, the more sensational, exclusive or otherwise "juicy" update they can provide will, in-turn, generate the strongest pull keeping eyes glued to their network (and consequently their ads.) Uh, oh, this sounds like it has all the makings of a "message content problem." Yeah, when CNN goes live with a psychic predicting the fates of those onboard, you know the coverage has gotten pretty bad.
Megan Daum, writing for The Chicago Times, reported just how bad the coverage has become in a March 21, story explaining, "reporters everywhere seem to have taken the view that no theory is too cuckoo for prime time. On Anderson Cooper's 'AC 360,' which is so consumed with the story it might as well change its name to 'AC Flight 370,' CNN's Tom Foreman (strutting around on a veritable playground of a digital interactive map) delved into what he called the 'very popular' theory that Flight MH370 went 'into stealth mode by flying in the radar shadow of another jet." A commercial jet....stealth mode? Ok, sounds just juicy enough to make a few thousand retweets on Twitter...and retweet the world did.
Social media is really the undercut to credibility in this instance. Baum continues to explain, that unless social media is providing insider evidence (such as in the Arab Spring uprising of 2012 where citizens were telling their story via social media to the outside world), it really serves little value in moving the conversation forward.
In the MH370 instance, both speculation from, and pandering to, social media served as excess "noise" distracting from the facts of the situation. Again, news outlets are best served fueling reaction on social media, this leads to sensational reporting with high editorial content. It is this content, which appears to be increasingly less rooted in scientifically verified facts, that generates "buzz." Buzz equals clicks, retweets and shares. Which in turn equal more eye balls seeing content (and advertisements.)
Sadly, I was not above the fray in this story. Personally, I felt compelled to do something to help! Like millions of other internet users, I caught wind of the Tomnod website where users can log in, view satellite images of the Indian Ocean and help tag debris, life rafts or plane wreckage. The site went wildly popular amidst news coverage, and former rockstar Courtney Love tweeting screenshots of tags she had made on the site. In my defense, I read about it in a credible internet story, not from following Courtney Love on twitter.
In summary, there were a number of issues impacting the quality of coverage and the overall content of the communication surrounding communication of this crisis. Beginning with ambiguity around the sender and source of information and ultimately compounded with the noise of social media (and the cloudy intentions of those sending the messages to market.)
What really happened? Well factual information is coming to light in the past 24 hours indicating the plane crashed in a remote area of the Indian Ocean. Though authorities are not speculating on the events leading up to the crash, some simple (less sensational, and more realistic) theories have come to the forefront of discussion. Breaking down the timeline of events, former pilot Chris Goodfellows speculates that a cabin fire could account for the timeline, trajectory of flight and lack of communication with ground support.
I was a little irritated reading another summary story of the events yesterday. The reference to a similar mechanical issue on another Malaysian airlines flight just on Monday made me wonder if the airline is taking any actions to effectively manage this crisis. These recurring issues induced thoughts of Tylenol's crisis management back in the 1980s (a topic discussed in a former business communications class, not a vivid personal memory). Bold action should be required on behalf of the public for Malaysian Airlines to continue operations if the suspected mechanical failings prove to be the cause of these horrific events.
Malaysian Airlines will undoubtedly have some explaining to do. Though, as the MH370 experience would indicate, messages from the airline will inevitably fall short of public need, and leave us inadequately informed of their management of the situation. Here's hoping the markets correct themselves in terms of Malaysian Airline's performance forcing either change of operating procedures, and/or improved safety/mechanical measures.
As for the power of social media, and news outlets to report factual information? That's a story we as the public will have to continue to monitor for further developments.
The story of flight MH370 highlights the power of speculation, power/control and the danger of editorial influence in communicating to a mass audience. Especially in a 24-hour media environment further enhanced with the "constant on" of social media, public relations and corporate communications have to be accessible, and fast to maintain control and provide accurate information as it is available.
Clearly in this case, there was no information readily available. Which, as many class members have noted, is extremely frustrating and confusing given the magnitude of a commercial jet! Nonetheless, beyond the absence of fact, there was little to no coordination of the search effort. At least, none that was effectively communicated to the public. The international flight had multiple stakeholders with varying levels of interest and liability in owning the situation. Clearly, this was a "sender" problem. Who was in charge of releasing information? The airline? Malaysian government officials? China? A magical international crisis team (oh wait, that doesn't exist).
With no clear responsible party assuming accountability to serve as the source of information, the editorial race began with commercial "news" outlets vying for pole position to have exclusive information. These sources of data/information are not truly accountable to the countries, airlines, or families of those involved in the tragedy (I'll hold my tongue on journalistic integrity and their responsibility to general public for another day/rant).
For us in the United States, these media sources are accountable to those who are paying to advertise on their networks...so, the more sensational, exclusive or otherwise "juicy" update they can provide will, in-turn, generate the strongest pull keeping eyes glued to their network (and consequently their ads.) Uh, oh, this sounds like it has all the makings of a "message content problem." Yeah, when CNN goes live with a psychic predicting the fates of those onboard, you know the coverage has gotten pretty bad.
Megan Daum, writing for The Chicago Times, reported just how bad the coverage has become in a March 21, story explaining, "reporters everywhere seem to have taken the view that no theory is too cuckoo for prime time. On Anderson Cooper's 'AC 360,' which is so consumed with the story it might as well change its name to 'AC Flight 370,' CNN's Tom Foreman (strutting around on a veritable playground of a digital interactive map) delved into what he called the 'very popular' theory that Flight MH370 went 'into stealth mode by flying in the radar shadow of another jet." A commercial jet....stealth mode? Ok, sounds just juicy enough to make a few thousand retweets on Twitter...and retweet the world did.
Social media is really the undercut to credibility in this instance. Baum continues to explain, that unless social media is providing insider evidence (such as in the Arab Spring uprising of 2012 where citizens were telling their story via social media to the outside world), it really serves little value in moving the conversation forward.
In the MH370 instance, both speculation from, and pandering to, social media served as excess "noise" distracting from the facts of the situation. Again, news outlets are best served fueling reaction on social media, this leads to sensational reporting with high editorial content. It is this content, which appears to be increasingly less rooted in scientifically verified facts, that generates "buzz." Buzz equals clicks, retweets and shares. Which in turn equal more eye balls seeing content (and advertisements.)
Sadly, I was not above the fray in this story. Personally, I felt compelled to do something to help! Like millions of other internet users, I caught wind of the Tomnod website where users can log in, view satellite images of the Indian Ocean and help tag debris, life rafts or plane wreckage. The site went wildly popular amidst news coverage, and former rockstar Courtney Love tweeting screenshots of tags she had made on the site. In my defense, I read about it in a credible internet story, not from following Courtney Love on twitter.
In summary, there were a number of issues impacting the quality of coverage and the overall content of the communication surrounding communication of this crisis. Beginning with ambiguity around the sender and source of information and ultimately compounded with the noise of social media (and the cloudy intentions of those sending the messages to market.)
What really happened? Well factual information is coming to light in the past 24 hours indicating the plane crashed in a remote area of the Indian Ocean. Though authorities are not speculating on the events leading up to the crash, some simple (less sensational, and more realistic) theories have come to the forefront of discussion. Breaking down the timeline of events, former pilot Chris Goodfellows speculates that a cabin fire could account for the timeline, trajectory of flight and lack of communication with ground support.
I was a little irritated reading another summary story of the events yesterday. The reference to a similar mechanical issue on another Malaysian airlines flight just on Monday made me wonder if the airline is taking any actions to effectively manage this crisis. These recurring issues induced thoughts of Tylenol's crisis management back in the 1980s (a topic discussed in a former business communications class, not a vivid personal memory). Bold action should be required on behalf of the public for Malaysian Airlines to continue operations if the suspected mechanical failings prove to be the cause of these horrific events.
Malaysian Airlines will undoubtedly have some explaining to do. Though, as the MH370 experience would indicate, messages from the airline will inevitably fall short of public need, and leave us inadequately informed of their management of the situation. Here's hoping the markets correct themselves in terms of Malaysian Airline's performance forcing either change of operating procedures, and/or improved safety/mechanical measures.
As for the power of social media, and news outlets to report factual information? That's a story we as the public will have to continue to monitor for further developments.
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