If you think back on some of the recent crisis media management incidents, many of them have a familiar theme – they feature video footage from a member of the public.
Smartphones have had a huge impact on news. Now anyone with one and a decent internet connection has the capacity to report things as they happen.
And this footage can plunge organisations into managing damaging reputational issues. You can probably recall, for example, the video of a bloodied passenger being pulled off a United Airlines flight.
This weekend, Southern Rail found itself in the social media firing line after footage was posted which appeared to show two of its workers throw dirty water on a homeless man lying on the ground outside a train station.
The video was recorded around Saturday lunchtime and also showed the man’s belongings on the ground next to him getting drenched.
It was initially posted on Facebook the next day where it has been shared by 7,400 people.
From there it moved on to Twitter and attracted the attention of mainstream media.
This is appalling behaviour by @SouthernRailUK staff towards a homeless man. The woman who posted this on Facebook said that just before she started filming the staff had whacked him with a mop. They then started harassing her for filming what they were doing. pic.twitter.com/0dp3ihhAy3
— I was a JSA claimant (@imajsaclaimant) February 25, 2019
Here are some of the mainstream media stories:
‘Absolutely disgusting’ - Fury as Southern rail workers drench homeless man with filthy water as he begs them to stop The Sun
Horrified passengers call for Southern staff to lose their jobs after dirty water is thrown on a homeless man Daily Mail
‘Dirty’ water poured on homeless man by rail staff in shocking video Evening Standard
Southern Rail has responded to the incident through social media posts to those who have raised concerns about the footage.
These responses have mainly been copied and pasted and have typically said: “Please be assured that this video is currently being investigated by higher management and the appropriate action will be taken. I can only apologise for this in the mean time (SIC)."
Hi Amna, we are very aware of this video. It is currently being investigated by the local management team and for that reason, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time. I do wish to apologise for the mean time. ^Alex.M
— Southern (@SouthernRailUK) February 24, 2019
So what can other organisations learn from this response?
Empathy
Clearly, this story broke out of normal office hours, and you don’t want to be overly critical of the one or two people who probably had to deal with the issue.
But Southern’s response lacks any compassion or empathy for the man. The closest we get is the final line that says ‘I would like to apologise in the mean time’.
It also fails to respond to the gravity of what is showing in the footage.
For me, the response needs to be much more strongly worded and it needs to focus more on the victim.
It should really start by saying something like: “We are very concerned about the footage which has been circulating on social media this morning. It is shocking and upsetting and we are keen to speak to the man to check that he is ok. We are determined to understand what has happened and we have launched an investigation. Clearly, the footage does not show the behaviour we expect from our people.”
Visibility
The response on Twitter says that the incident is being investigated by the ‘local management team’ and it is good to hear that action is being taken – action is a key part of any crisis media management response.
By why don’t we hear from one of these managers? Visible leadership, even if it just takes the form of a quote from someone senior, is a key part of responding to crisis media management and reputational issues.
The other thing on visibility it that it is not easy to find Southern’s response. You have to go into the ‘tweets and replies’ section of its Twitter account and look through all of its responses to see what it has been saying.
When organisations are in the firing line, their statements need to be easy to find. On Twitter, a good approach is to pin tweets on the incident to the top of the top of the account.
Escalate
As we’ve already mentioned, the story broke outside of normal office hours.
But good crisis media management involves planning for events which happen outside of the typical 9-5, because negative stories and serious reputational issues have a habit of not sticking to normal work patterns.
In the social media age, news is a 24-hour business and stories which may have previously gone unreported can be hugely damaging. Organisations need to be able to escalate their response if they are in the firing line.
That means having people who can be called upon when things go wrong to help deal with the social media traffic, update mainstream media and make changes to the website if necessary.
Certainly, when I use to work on-call at weekends, I knew when I should escalate an incident or story and who I should escalate it to.
Southern’s response has been better today with a quote issued from passenger services director Angie Doll and the news that two staff members have been suspended. But 24 hours is a long time in news and organisations need to be able to respond more effectively even if a story breaks during the weekend.
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