Apologies are never easy.
There are plenty of brands that have got them wrong and created more harm during crisis media management incidents.
And it can be difficult to find examples of organisations that have got it right.
But one emerged this week from an unlikely source.
TV channel NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (KXAS) said sorry after delaying telling viewers about a tornado warning during its Sunday Night Football coverage.
The station waited six minutes before interrupting the match between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys to inform viewers of the three tornadoes which hit Dallas on Sunday night.
That delay caused a social media backlash.
WFAA: TORNADO!!! GET TO SAFE SPACE NOW!!!
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) October 21, 2019
KXAS: First down, Cowboys!
Y’all! There is an active tornado warning in Dallas/Richardson and NBC/channel 5 is still showing the football game. Because Cowboys. Because priorities. #txwx #dfwweather #Cowboys #nbcdfw #NBCDFWWeather
— Jessica Wright (@revjkwright) October 21, 2019
Tornado goes right through the heart of Dallas and @NBCDFW doesn't break away from the stupid @dallascowboys game. Unbelievable. Should be ashamed.
— RB (@mryanb) October 21, 2019
Absolutely ridiculous that @NBCDFW did not break away from the Cowboys for long form tornado coverage. At least I know who not to follow for important local news.
— Michael Harris (@_MichaelSHarris) October 21, 2019
The broadcaster responded with an apology.
It said: “During Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys game, we made a mistake by not immediately interrupting the football game with a Tornado Warning.
“Although our meteorologists were tracking thunderstorms across the area when the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Dallas County, we delayed breaking into programming for six minutes.
“Our meteorologists were also streaming live weather coverage throughout the evening on our site, NBCDFW.com. We also alerted the football audience to our weather livestream throughout the game.
“When it comes to dealing with severe weather, we know that seconds matter. We should have broken into football programming sooner. We apologize and want you to know that we’re doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.
“We look forward to regaining the trust of anyone we may have disappointed.”
During Sunday night's Cowboys game, we made a mistake not immediately interrupting the game with a Tornado Warning. With severe weather, we know that seconds matter. We should have broken into football programming sooner. Full statement here. https://t.co/ODV4nqsMrt
— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) October 21, 2019
So, what’s so good about the apology?
Candid
Well, to start with it feels candid and genuine.
Beginning with ‘we made a mistake’ is forthright and honest.
And the whole tone of the apology suggests the channel is genuinely sorry rather than issuing a statement because it is experiencing a social media backlash.
This is key. All too often, as we highlight on our crisis communication training courses, organisations issue apologies which sound half-hearted, scripted and robotic, relying on overused phrases like ‘we take this matter extremely seriously’, ‘we’re sorry if we offended anyone’ and the ubiquitous ‘sorry for any inconvenience’.
Ahead of the story
One of the good things about this apology is that the channel moved fairly quickly.
It didn’t wait and hope that the noise would die down and instead got ahead of the news cycle with its side of the story.
Interestingly, there is far more coverage of its apology than there is of it delaying reporting the tornadoes.
Dallas NBC station apologises for delaying tornado warning USA Today
NBC 5 apologises for not interrupting Cowboys coverage for tornado warning Fort Worth Star Telegram
Dallas TV station apologises for not breaking into game KWCH Eyewitness News
Simple
One of the key parts of the statement is the simplicity of the language that has been used.
“We made a mistake”; “when it comes to dealing with severe weather, we know that seconds matter”; and “we should have broken into our football programming sooner,” all sound like a person said them.
And that adds to the feeling of the statement being genuine which we discussed earlier.
Organisations often issue apologies full of corporate language which makes them sound disingenuous.
Promise
When something has gone wrong, audiences want to know what action is being taken to rectify the situation and to ensure that something similar doesn’t happen again.
The broadcaster’s statement doesn’t include much detail on actions, but there is a promise that it is ‘doing everything in its power to make sure this does not happen again’.
But importantly, it stops short of ‘guaranteeing’ it won’t happen again. This is a trap many organisations fall into and it can come back to haunt them when similar incidents happen in the future.
Could it have done anything better?
Apology
The actual apology should have been higher.
The channel didn’t say ‘we apologise’ until close to the end.
On our crisis communication training courses we say that apologies should come at the start of statements.
NBC could have begun with ‘we made a mistake and we are sorry’, which would have been more impactful.
Defensive
The third paragraph of the NBC statement, where it outlines the things it did do to notify viewers of the tornado, sounds pretty defensive.
Attempts to explain actions, even if well-intended, typically sound like an excuse or an attempt to justify what has happened and weaken apologies.
But overall this is a good apology. And although some social media users have questioned whether it needed to apologise, it is worth considering that the channel might have been looking at a different crisis media management situation had the tornadoes caused deaths and serious injuries
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