Description of the Relationship between the Crisis Life ...eprints.qut.edu.au/15827/1/Gwyneth_Howell_Thesis.pdfeach stage of the crisis, mass media content focuses on particular identifiable

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content i

Description of the Relationship between the Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media

Content

Gwyneth Veronica James Howell

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Faculty of Business

Queensland University of Technology

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content ii

ABSTRACT

Crises are unpredictable events which impact on organisational issues such as

viability, credibility and reputation. In recent years, few topics have generated more

interest within the discipline of public relations. Today, crises are a prominent feature

of the business environment, and every organisation has the potential to experience

one. The manner in which mass media frame crises can alter an organisation’s

reputation, affect organisational profitability, and ultimately the survival of the

organisation.

This thesis explores the application of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model to

mass media content. Further, it recommends the implementation crisis public

relations strategies that address each stage of the model. The study demonstrated the

relevance and importance of the extension of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle

theoretical model to understanding mass media content during a crisis. The extended

model provides a model to better understand a crisis and its life cycle from a public

relations perspective. Further this expanded model provides the framework for public

relations professionals to identify and comprehend the dynamic and multi-

dimensional set of relationships that occur during the Crisis Life Cycle in a rapidly

changing and challenging operational environment.

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Undertaking the Research Masters has proved to be a challenging and rewarding

experience. Crises can occur in anyone’s life, often without warning, and ‘it’s not

what happens to you that matters, but how you handle it that counts!’.

I would to thank Rohan for finally convincing me that sometimes it is better to

go round than through. Redweon, for always being available for theoretical

discussions and Tim Tams and Maria, for taking in a stray and for being such a

wonderful friend. Finally, I would not be who I am without my parents. Bandicoot

and Papa Bear, my sincere thanks, ongoing love and utmost respect.

My supervisor, Associate Professor James Everett, I thank you for your

unfailing enthusiasm for my research, your professionalism and above all your ability

to manage the Texan in me!

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content iv

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter One 1

Crises 3

Crisis Life Cycle 5

Crisis Public Relations 7

Role of Mass Media 8

Research Purpose and Design 10

Overview of Research Design 11

Research Outline 12

Chapter Two 15

Public Relations 15

Public Opinion 16

Publics 16

Theories of Mass Media Influence 18

News Framing 27

Mass Media Themes and Focusing Events 30

Crises 32

Crisis Typologies 33

Crisis Public Relations 35

Crisis Life Cycle 43

Crisis Management 52

Crisis Management Models 55

Chapter Three 63

Propositions 68

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content v

Prodromal Crisis 68

Proposition One 68

Indicator 71

Acute Crisis 72

Proposition Two 72

Indicator 73

Chronic Crisis 73

Proposition Three 73

Indicator 74

Crisis Resolution 75

Proposition Four 75

Indicator 75

Indicator 75

Conclusion 79

Chapter Four 81

Case Studies 82

Ansett Airlines 85

History 87

Ansett Airlines 2001 88

Research Methodology 94

Content Analysis 94

Types of Content Analysis 95

Sample 101

Data Collection 104

Results 105

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content vi

Chapter Five 115

Discussion 116

Proposition One 117

Proposition Two 119

Proposition Three 121

Proposition Four 123

Study Limitations and Strengths 125

Conclusion 130

References 133

Appendix A 151

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 The sequence of the four stages of a crisis as identified in Fink’s (1986)

Crisis Life Cycle Model.

47

Figure 2 The proactive side of the Pauchant & Mitroff’s (1992) Crisis Management

Model with strategic thinking added (Bronn & Olson, 1999). 61

Figure 3 Empirical Bridges between Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle Model and Mass

Media Content. 68

Figure 4 Flow Chart of mass media content’s trigger theme movement during the four

stages of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model. 79

Figure 5 Frequency of trigger themes during case study 109

Figure 6 Frequency of Explanation, Responsibility and Blame and Resolution theme

utilising Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model to define the time scale periods. 114

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Typology of seven models of framing applicable to public relations, Hallahan

(1999) 26

Crisis Life Cycle and Mass Media Content 1

Chapter One

This chapter provides an overview of the research problem explored in this study.

Further, the research question is posed and initial discussion of the research design is

undertaken. Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model is presented and is described in terms

of crisis public relations and mass media content. An overview of the literature on crisis

public relations is provided. The chapter concludes with a detailed reporting framework

for the empirical study with a synopsis of each of the following four chapters.

Crises are unpredictable events which impact on organisational issues such as

viability, credibility and reputation (Mitroff, Shrivastava, & Udwadia, 1987). Crises also

have important implications for organisational stakeholders. In recent years, few topics

have generated more interest within the discipline of public relations (Marra, 1992).

Today, crises are a prominent feature of the business environment, and every organisation

has the potential to experience one. How mass media frame crises can alter an

organisation’s reputation, affect organisational profitability, and ultimately the survival of

the organisation (Pauchant & Mitroff, 1992). There are many examples of organisational

crises that have received extensive mass media coverage. Internationally, there have

been the nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the Exxon Valdez oil

spill, the Tylenol tampering incident, the Dow Corning breast implant litigation, the

Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and 9/11. In Australia, recent examples of crises include the

Herron and Arnott’s tampering incidents, the HMAS Tampa refugee stand off, and the

corporate collapses of HIH, OneTel and Ansett Airlines. Organisations use mass media


to communicate with publics during crises (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). How mass media

select to frame coverage can adversely impact on organisations during crises (Pan &

Kosicki, 1993).

Until recently, crisis public relations has been overlooked as a tool to assist in the

successful management of an organisational crisis (Fearn-Banks, 1996). Indeed, crisis

public relations has typically been relegated to a defensive role (Coombs, 1999).

However, the premise of crisis public relations is to offset potential negative

consequences (Mitroff, 1996). Negative consequences usually occur when organisations

fail to respond to ‘warning’ signs of the impending crisis (Fink, 1986). Many of these

signs appear as ‘trigger themes’ in mass media content prior to the actual onset of the

crisis (Sturges, 1994).

Both researchers and public relations practitioners have struggled to operationalize

the role of public relations in crisis situations (Coombs, 1999). The result are public

relations strategies which generally are defined either by lists of quantitative variables

that are expensive to measure and difficult to integrate, or qualitative models, often

restricted to procedural devices and context-specific applications (Cornelissen, 2000).

These reactive crisis public relations strategies are the least effective, yet the most

common crisis strategies used today (Marra, 1992).

Most public relations literature focuses on communicating to relevant publics

during the turmoil generated by a crisis. Marra (1992) asserts that crisis public relations

is essential during a crisis. The implication for this study is to reinforce the view that

proactive strategies can better manage crises. That is, effective monitoring and


management in the initial or warning stage of a crisis can reduce the consequences of a

crisis on an organisation (Marra, 1992).

Ultimately, the central claim of this study is the proposition that the nature of mass

media content relates to the stages of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model. During

each stage of the crisis, mass media content focuses on particular identifiable themes.

The goal of this study is to describe and explore this relationship between the Crisis Life

Cycle and mass media content. This extension of Fink’s (1986) model and its

relationship with mass media content during a crisis can inform crisis public relations

strategy.

The Tylenol tampering crisis is widely considered the original ‘best practice’

example of crisis public relations strategy (Fishman, 1999). The resultant damage to

Tylenol was minimal due to the provision of accurate and timely information to the mass

media during the Acute Crisis stage of the crisis. Tylenol’s communication strategy to its

publics continued throughout the three final stages of the Crisis Life Cycle. Analysis of

this behaviour indicates limited organisational damage due to the public relations strategy

implemented (Benson, 1988).

Crisis public relations professionals advocate the necessity to define, and then

practise reactive crisis public relations (for example, Quarantelli, 1988). Practitioner-

oriented journals emphasize that crisis public relations should contain information that is

accurate and complete in describing the event and its consequences (Barton, 1993;

Burson, 1985; Dilenschneider & Hyde, 1985; Fink, 1986). These observations of crisis

public relations suggest that all crisis public relations occur with the same communication

objective (Marra, 1998). Among the implications for this study is the view that the


dominant practitioner paradigm for crises management is incomplete and can be

improved by understanding the relationships between Fink’s (1986) multi-stage Crisis

Life Cycle model and mass media content.

In general, the crisis management literature acknowledges the need to approach

each of the four stages with an individual management strategy to best manage the

different dynamics and dimensions in each stage of the crisis (Barton, 1993; Mitroff,

1996). The general framework for crisis public relations presented in the body of

literature makes the assumption that mass media content is important as it influences

opinions of publics during a crisis (Egelhoff, 1992). However, crisis management

literature does not acknowledge changes in mass media content during the crisis (Fink,

1986; Mitroff, 1996).

This thesis explores the application of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model to

mass media content. Further, it recommends the implementation of crisis public relations

strategies that address each stage of the model. A review of the literature presents the

context for the principle research question of this study and the methods employed to

provide the empirical foundation for exploring the research question. The concepts of

crises, Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model, crisis public relations and mass media

content will be defined.

CRISES

Crises are defined as highly ambiguous situations where the causes and effects are

unknown (Dutton, 1986; Quarantelli, 1988). Historically most organisations believe that

‘a crisis won’t happen to us’ (Coombs, 1999). This general assumption and the failure to

anticipate and prepare for crises cause organisations to suffer emotional, financial and


perceptual damage (Pauchant, 1988). Pauchant (1988) proposes that while crises have a

low probability of occurring, crises are rarely independent, random events. Crises can

threaten the survival of the organisation (Jackson & Dutton, 1987; Mitroff, Pauchant, &

Shrivastava, 1988). Hermann (1963) explained that when a crisis occurred, organisations

and publics experience surprise and these situations create the need for decisions that will

result in change for the organisation (Aguilera, 1990; Slaikeu, 1990). For public relations

professionals once crises reach the Acute Stage of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle, a

short time frame for response is available (Quarantelli, 1988). Seeger, Sellnow, and

Ulmer, (1998) define a crisis as “a specific, unexpected and non-routine event or series of

events that create high levels of uncertainty and threaten or are perceived to threaten an

organisation’s high priority goals” (p. 233).

In the new millennium, organisations operate in a global environment.

Environmental developments are occurring at a rapid rate, and the increased reliance on

technology has amplified the propensity for organisations to experience crises (Barton,

1993; Ogrizek & Guillery, 1999; Perrow, 1984; Seeger, Sellnow, & Ulmer, 2001; Ulmer

& Sellnow, 1997). These changing and competitive climates in which organisations

operate force all organisations to deal with rapid and turbulent change. The increased

complexity and ambiguity of operation enhances the turbulence experienced by

organisations as crises move through the four stages of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle.

The primary cause of this turbulence is the lack of preparation by organisations to

manage crises. A survey of 114 of Fortune 1000 companies in 1992 found that on

average large companies experience 10 major crises each year (Elwood, 1995). Yet,

research shows that while organisations are experiencing crises, they are not prepared to


manage or respond to them (Coombs, 1999). Fink (1986) estimated that only 50 percent

of the United States’s 500 leading organisations had any type of strategy in place to

manage crises. Pauchant (1988) asserts that that only four in every 10 organisations have

a crisis plan. The current Australian business environment is very similar to the United

States with the landscape littered with organisations which failed to manage crises and

suffered the resulting loss of reputation and financial downfall for example Ansett

Airlines, HIH and OneTel. Regardless of the industry, language or location, crisis

activity creates a unique set of challenges for public relations professionals (Cutlip,

Center, & Broom, 2000).

Crisis Life Cycle

To gain a greater understanding of and advance best practices in the management of

crises, Fink (1986) developed the Crisis Life Cycle model. As marketing researchers

used the product lifecycle to interpret product and market dynamics, Fink (1986) sought

to apply the Crisis Life Cycle model to better understand crisis behaviours. Fink’s (1986)

model presents four distinct phases whose titles are grounded in medical terminology

these being Prodromal Crisis, Acute Crisis, Chronic Crisis and Crisis Resolution.

The first stage of Fink’s (1986) model is the Prodromal Crisis or build-up stage.

During this stage clues or hints begin to appear in mass media coverage about a potential

crisis. These hints or warning signs appear as themes (Kelly, 1989). These themes

describing symptoms or precursors to a crisis are for the purposes of this study termed

trigger themes. Trigger themes represent repeated messages or pointers that if recognized,

may help the organisation to implement activities intended to anticipate a crisis and

exploit its benefit or reduce its negative impact. Organisations that are sensitive to their


environment, actively monitor mass media content and explore relevant trends in mass

media coverage are better positioned to recognize crises (Seeger et al., 2001; Heath,

1997) .

The second stage is the Acute Crisis or the impact stage. This is often the shortest

but most damaging stage when one of the trigger themes develops and the crisis occurs.

The resulting physical, fiscal and emotional damage to an organisation and its relevant

publics can be significant. Mass media content during this stage of Fink’s (1986) Crisis

Life Cycle contain themes of explanation where mass media content presents an

explanation of the crisis, typically in a chronological order of events.

The third or Chronic Crisis stage is so termed because the effects of a crisis may

linger for years, as physical restoration, legal action, and public activism ensures

continuing mass media coverage. These actions and activities prolong the effects of a

crisis (Barton, 1993). During this stage mass media content contains themes of blame

and responsibility. Mass media frame content describing the reasons for the events that

have occurred, seeking to answer the questions of ‘why’ and allocate blame and

responsibility to organisations and/or individuals for the crisis (Fearn-Banks, 1996).

The final or Resolution Stage is reached when the crisis no longer impacts on the

organisation's operational environment or its publics (Fink, 1986; Mitroff, 1996). During

this stage, crisis public relations professionals seek to develop themes of resolution in

mass media content. Failure to achieve resolution will ensure that the theme becomes

latent with the potential to be even more damaging to the organisation should it become

active again (Fink, 1986). Crises can damage and destroy companies and individuals

alike, and while mass media coverage during the Acute Crisis stage may only last a few


days, the reverberations and subsequent mass media coverage can persist for years

(Barton, 1993).

Due to the reactive nature of crisis management literature, a key objective of crisis

strategy is ‘damage control’ for the organisation (Burson, 1985). It is generally accepted

by academic researchers that the prime objective of crisis management is to prevent the

drastic negative effects from the crisis, including negative mass media coverage (e.g.

(Barton, 1993; Fink, 1986; Mitroff, 1996). However, this reactive strategy limits the

organisation’s opportunity to maintain positive relationships with its publics after the

Acute Crisis stage of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle. One of the important implications

of this study is that the focus of crisis public relations strategy should be on the trigger

themes while the themes are in the theme pool. By utilising proactive crisis public

relations strategies to manage the trigger theme during the Prodromal Crisis stage of

Fink’s (1986) model an organisation may prevent or at least limit negative mass media

content.

Crisis Public Relations

Crises tend to be high profile events, where public relations activities can play a

crucial role in the successful management of a crisis (Seymour & Moore, 2000). Yet,

crisis public relations has enjoyed only a brief history within the discipline. Prior to

1982, organisations generally chose to close off channels of communication with publics,

especially mass media during crises and elected to follow legal advice maintaining the

position of ‘no comment’ (Cutlip et al, 2000). For more than 15 years, this was the

standard crisis public relations strategy (Marra, 1992). The expansion of mass media and


newsgathering developments have forced organisations to alter these ‘closed’ strategies

and explore better practices for crisis public relations (Pinsdorf, 1999).

The ever-changing structure of the mass media is a product of the information

revolution and has dramatically altered the public relations discipline (Seymour &

Moore, 2000). As a result the need for strong crisis public relations and the impact of

message mismanagement has escalated (Pearson & Clair, 1998). Although largely

reactionary, the goal of crisis public relations is to manage relationships with various

publics during crises (Marra, 1998).

Information technologies such as web casting, email, and the Internet have changed

the communication landscape (Hearn, Mandeville, & Anthony, 1998). This expanded

media arena has ensured any event or action can be scrutinized by mass media (Hawkins,

2001). Today, mass media ensures that information about crises is available

instantaneously (Henry, 2000). For example, the graphic images of 9-11 were broadcast

via video and Internet links throughout the world with a vast array of mass media outlets

framing the content as “America Under Attack” (Jackson, 2002).

Role of Mass Media

Mass media plays a pivotal role in the discipline of public relations, primarily as the

main vehicle of communication between an organisation and its publics (Fortunato,

2000). Mass media encompasses newspapers, magazines, trade publications, AM and

FM radio, television both free to air and Pay TV, Web TV and books (Cutlip et al.,

2000).

For the purposes of this study the term ‘coverage’ refers to all print broadcast

media, while ‘content’ specifies mass media analysis of one aspect of coverage.


Therefore, coverage is a product of the mass media system while content is an aspect of

mass media coverage.

The inclusion of mass media theory in this study contributes to the understanding of

the degree of power that mass media enjoys in its ability to select and frame messages

(Gunther, 1998; McCoombs & Shaw, 1993). Cohen (1963) sought to expand on agenda

setting theories presented by Lippmann (1922) and Bernays (1923), by stating that “the

mass media may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but

the mass media are stunningly successful in telling their audience what to think about”.

(p. 13) Cohen (1963) identified that by mass media raising the salience of one set of

considerations at the expense of another, the framing of news stories encourages publics

to employ one standard of judgment rather than another, sometimes with dramatic results

(Gamson & Modigham, 1989; Iyengar, 1991; Iyengar & Kinder, 1986).

Framing analysis uses the principle that the news in general, and in particular the

case under observation, is not simply made up by the random coverage of events, but is

rather a specific process of selection and construction. This process is social in origin,

and in the sense that news coverage is socially constructed. News coverage is established

by a combination of routines at the news organisational level, while news norms are

preserved and reproduced by the journalists themselves (Tuchman, 1978). Journalists

follow a number of set processes in the selection, gathering, and production of news

stories (Gamson & Modigham, 1989; Tuchman, 1978).

In the relationship between crisis public relations, mass media and publics, mass

media is deemed to hold the greatest power due to its potential ability to influence public

opinion (Birkland, 1997). The agenda-setting theoretical framework operates on the


premise that mass media has the ability to transfer the salience of an issue to publics

(McCoombs & Shaw, 1972). Fortunato (2000) argues that mass media has too much

power in terms of selecting and framing messages designed to influence publics and

questions the effect that public relations practitioners have on mass media content.

Fortunato’s (2000) assertion is substantiated in current literature and provides an

important focus of proactive crisis public relations strategy.

For the purposes of this study, the identification and description of themes in mass

media content during the Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle is the principal focus, not the

effect framing has on public opinion. Content analysis has been limited to print media

content for this study. Data is drawn from four major Australian newspapers, The

Australian, The Financial Review, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

RESEARCH PURPOSE AND DESIGN

King, Keohane and Verba (1994) assert that the most important way to contribute to

theory is to “show that theories or evidence designed for some purpose in one literature

could be applied in another literature to solve an existing but apparently unrelated

problem” (p. 17).

This study describes the relationship between the types of themes present in mass

media content and Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model. This extension of Fink’s

(1986) model and its relationship with broad themes present in mass media content

during a crisis can contribute to the development of crisis public relations strategy.

This study suggests that Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model should be part of the

larger issues of crisis public relations strategy and its inclusion may lead to more

effective and efficient management of crises. The study builds a case for the need to


consider the model in a larger context. This extension of the model to include general

themes present in mass media content serves as the framework to evaluate the

effectiveness of public relations strategy during crises. Thereby, making an explicit

contribution to current crisis public relations literature.

This study differs from the previous descriptive research of crisis public relations in

its exploration of how mass media content is organized into the four stages of Fink’s

(1986) model. The identification of these themes allow for the construction of a model

that predicts broad thematic categories during the four stages of the Crisis Life Cycle.

The development of the model should help enable practitioners to predict what type

of content will appear and when. This type of predication is not possible through the

main body of research, as it is descriptive in nature. A theoretically based model would

allow public relations practitioners to identify themes and facilitate implementation of

crisis public relations strategy in the Prodromal phase, thereby improving the likelihood

of avoiding the Acute and most damaging stage of the crisis.

The study has two primary purposes:

To demonstrate the relevance and importance of the extension of Fink’s (1986)

Crisis Life Cycle theoretical model to the understanding of mass media content during a

crisis.

Based on this extension of the Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model, the study will

describe its implications for the development and evaluation of public relations strategy.

Based on these purposes the primary research question is:


How does the relationship between mass media content and the Crisis Life Cycle model

inform public relations theory?

Overview of Research Design

To address the proposed research question of this study, qualitative methodology is

employed. Case study method is well established in the qualitative research tradition and

is especially responsive to research questions of ‘why’ and ‘how’. Yin (1993) asserts that

this methodology provides a flexible yet integrated framework for the holistic

examination that this study has employed for Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and

mass media content. Content analysis enables researchers to systematically review large

quantities of data to identify specific characteristics of messages (Holsti, 1969) or

examine trends or patterns in documents (Stemler, 2001). In this study content analysis

has enabled the researcher to describe mass media content during the four stages of

Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle.

This research methodology and content analysis has been employed for purposes of

the study to examine a specific crisis. The unit of analysis selected is print mass media

content of the Ansett Airlines 767-200 Easter 2001 groundings. An exhaustive data

collection was undertaken of print media content in four national newspapers from

January 1, 2001 to June 1, 2001. This data has been evaluated using content analysis and

provides the researcher with frequency counts and trends of the content themes.

Research Outline

Chapter One explores the limited theoretical grounding for crises, crisis public

relations and mass media content. The chapter also provides details regarding the

purpose of the thesis and poses the research question.


Chapter Two presents the theoretical perspectives of major public relations

concepts further, the refinement and expansion of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle, crisis

management and the component of public relations strategy that relates to the mass

media’s treatment of crises. The issues relating to crisis research within the discipline of

public relations are contextualized. The discipline’s reliance on prescriptive actions

verses descriptive foundation on which to build strategy is discussed. The chapter

presents the theoretical rationale for the study and explores the practical implications for

refining Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model in terms of its implications for mass

media content. The review of literature examines the specific process for the analysis of

mass media content. Finally, the literature review serves as the framework for the study

by offering contrasting opinions of the literature reviewed.

Chapter Three explores the theoretical framework developed in Chapter Two.

Further, Fink’s (1986) model is extended in an attempt to describe mass media content.

The development and justification of the four propositions proposed for the study are

presented and indicator measures are defined.

Chapter Four describes case study methodology and identifies the appropriateness

of case study methodology for the thesis in its examination of the extension of Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle model. An explanation of data collation and analysis is

presented with a discussion of the data collection and data analysis methods employed.

Chapter Five utilizes the data from Chapter Four to explore the implications in

terms of the research question posed in Chapter One. The chapter outlines the threats to

reliability and validity. Further, the implications for public relations practitioners in

terms of crisis public relations strategy is explored. Finally, opportunities for further


research to develop public relations research from the prescriptive to empirical domain

are presented.


Chapter Two

This chapter explains and defines public relations, crises, and the Crisis Life Cycle

model. Mass media is a highly influential stakeholder during crises, filtering and framing

perspectives, with a tendency to reinforce current public biases (Nelkin, 1987). The

chapter explores public opinion due to its relevance in terms of its influence on mass

media, further it defines mass media influence and framing perspectives, which are of

particular interest for this study, as the study will measure mass media content during a

crisis. The chapter presents the theoretical foundations of crises, crisis public relations

and explores the Crisis Life Cycle. This chapter provides a detailed synopsis of Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and its relationship to mass media content. These

definitions and review of the literature are then used to present and justify the extension

of Fink’s (1986) model that serves as the foundation for analysis of the case study of print

mass media content of the crisis experienced by Ansett Airlines in April 2001.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations as a discipline commenced in the early 1900’s (Marra, 1992). The

earliest definitions of the discipline emphasized two main activities, press agentry and

publicity (Cutlip et al., 2000). Today, public relations is recognized as an essential

strategic business function (Seymour & Moore, 2000). This recognition of the

relationship link between the organisation and its publics has assisted in the development

of management’s view of public relations (Cutlip et al., 2000).


Cornelissen (2000) contends that public relations activity is not grounded in nor

draws upon academic knowledge. He suggests that in the field of public relations there is

a disparity between academic theories and research and the knowledge and skills required

by practitioners. Further, Cornelissen (2000) asserts that research has been driven in a

method based focus rather than ‘big picture’ management particularly in crisis public

relations research.

Scholarly and professional literatures offer a wide range of definitions for public

relations. Harlow (1989) provides a definition for key elements of public relations based

on more than 470 different definitions already in circulation. Harlow’s (1989) definition

presented both conceptual and operational elements for the discipline.

Public relations is the distinctive management function which helps establish and

maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation

between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or

issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion;

defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest;

helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early

warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical

communication as its principal tools. (p. 16)

As the discipline developed, organisations became more aware of the public

relations function, activities changed and new definitions were presented to incorporate

research, planning, and evaluation or measurement of results (Cutlip et al., 2000). The

majority of these definitions explained the activities of public relations, but not the

discipline. In 1988, the American governing body, the Public Relations Society of


America formally adopted the following definition, “public relations helps an

organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other” (Cutlip et al., 2000). Marra

(1992) defined public relations as the systematic process of communicating with multiple

publics. For the purposes of this study, the definition of public relations refined by Cutlip

et al. (2000) is used, “the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains

mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and the publics on whom its

success or failure depends”(p. 6).

Public Opinion

Rousseau (1947, original work published 1762) was the first to present the concept

of ‘public opinion’ when he used the phrase l'opinion publique to describe the philosophy

of public and opinion in a political rather than a social sense. In America, the ‘will of the

people’ was established as the underlying standard assumption first for political

journalism, and later public opinion research in the social sciences (Ramsden, 1996). In

the 1920s journalists Walter Lippmann and John Dewey debated the role of the press in

the public opinion process, both suggesting that the press worked as a bridge to convey

information and opinion to publics (Dewey, 1927; Lippmann, 1922). The collective

views of Cutlip et al. (2000) provide a definition of public opinion as “a dynamic process

in which ideas are expressed, adjusted and compromised en route to the collective

determination of a course of action” (p. 250). To measure public opinion researchers

employ various methods of study including: voting patterns, measuring media content,

and obtaining public opinion from survey research. This study undertakes to measure

mass media content to describe frequency of themes in mass media content during Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle.


Publics

In public relations literature, the term ‘public’ is the most common terminology

used to describe a specific group (Cutlip, 1965; Grunig, 1976; Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

The term ‘general public’ refers to the entire audience; public relations literature

identifies each segment of the ‘general public’ as a specific public. Dewey (1927) and

Grunig and Hunt (1984) define a ‘public’ as a group of people who face a common issue

or share a mutual interest with an organisation. Fearn-Banks (1996) defines a ‘public’ as

a specific audience targeted by public relations programs or strategies. The level of

awareness by the public is dependent on the relationship that particular public has with

the organisation (Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

Grunig and Repper (1992) assert that publics differ from stakeholders, markets and

audiences because publics actively endeavour “to gain information, seek redress of

grievances, pressure the organisation or ask government to regulate them” (p.128).

Recent research has included non active or latent publics within the pool of publics

(Cutlip et al., 2000; Grunig & Repper, 1992). Marra (1998) recommends that public

relations strategy consider latent publics in the planning process. Cutlip et al (2000)

advocates that public relations practitioners devise programs to reach specific public

segments.

Fearn-Banks (1996) categorized four publics when exploring crisis public relations,

these being;

…enabling publics are those groups or individuals whom have influence and

authority within the organisation. These publics include key executives, directors,

shareholders and investors. The functional publics consist of the group of


employees and those organisations and individuals whom supply goods and

services as well as the customers. The normative publics are groups who share

similar values during the crisis, and finally the diffused publics are the audiences

who are not directly linked to the organisation, mass media is a diffused public. (p.

27)

The primary focus of this study is the relationship between the expansion of Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and mass media content. As a consequence, mass media

or using Fearn-Banks’s definition the ‘diffused public’, is a vital aspect of the study and

for crisis public relations strategy in general.

Theories of Mass Media Influence

Mass media plays a pivotal role in the discipline of public relations, primarily as the

main vehicle of communication between an organisation and its publics (Fortunato,

2000). Rogers (1995) makes the assumption that the mass media has influence over

social institutions through their social settings as the mass media is the main source of

information in society. Mass media encompasses newspapers, magazines, trade

publications, AM and FM radio, television both free to air and pay TV, Web TV and

books (Cutlip et al., 2000). For the purposes of this study, the term ‘coverage’ refers to

all print broadcast media while ‘content’ specifies mass media analysis of one aspect of

coverage. Therefore, coverage is a product of the mass media system and content is an

aspect of coverage.

The inclusion of mass media theory contributes to the understanding of this thesis

because of the degree of power that mass media enjoys, in its ability to select and frame

messages (McCoombs & Shaw, 1993). Mass media is a highly influential stakeholder

during crises, filtering and framing perspectives, with a tendency to reinforce current


public biases (Nelkin, 1987). Framing perspectives are of particular interest for this

study, as the study will measure mass media content during a crisis.

Gunther (1998) citing Katz (1981) explained mass media as “the major source of

reference for information about the distribution of opinion” (p. 89). Bar-Hillel (1980)

cautioned that public opinion can be influenced by the manner in which the information

is presented by mass media. Brosius and Bathelt (1994); Zillmann, Perkins and Sundar

(1992) support this view, claiming anecdotes and human interest themes used to present

objective information can alter public opinion due to the framing used by mass media.

For several decades, measuring public opinion has proven problematic for

researchers, one of the most widely studied aspects of which is framing effects.

Lippmann (1922) was the first to propose that the media could control public opinion by

focusing attention on selected issues while ignoring others. Bernays (1923) provided the

first handbook to manage this phenomena, known as the ‘agenda-setting’ hypothesis.

Cohen (1963) sought to expand on agenda setting theories presented by Lippmann

(1922) and Bernays (1923) by stating that “the mass media may not be successful much

of the time in telling people what to think, but the mass media are stunningly successful

in telling their audience what to think about” (p. 16). Cohen (1963) identified that by

mass media raising the salience of one set of considerations at the expense of another, the

framing of news stories encourages publics to employ one standard of judgment rather

than another, sometimes with dramatic results (Gamson & Modigham, 1989; Iyengar,

1991; Iyengar & Kinder, 1986; Pan & Kosicki, 1993). A further development of the

perspective offered by McCoombs and Shaw (1972), and Iyengar and Kinder (1986)


claimed that “pervasive cynicism in media news reports can have agenda setting effects”

(p. 179).

Noelle-Neumann (1974) presented the spiral of silence hypothesis claiming that

individuals constantly observe their environment seeking signs of the prevalent opinion

and further claims “for all questions outside his immediate sphere (the individual) is

almost totally dependent on mass media for …his evaluation of the climate of opinion”

(p. 50-51).

In the relationship between crisis public relations, the mass media and publics, mass

media is deemed to hold the greatest power due to the potential ability to influence public

opinion (Ramsden, 1996). The agenda-setting theoretical framework operates on the

premise that mass media has the ability to transfer the salience on an issue to publics

(Birkland, 1997). Mass media theory contributes to this understanding of the three-way

relationship between mass media, organisation and its publics (Webster & Phalen, 1997).

It has been proven that mass media has the power to potentially influence specific publics

and undertakes the ‘gatekeeper’ role, selecting and framing issues for coverage (Birkland,

1997).

For example, Gamson (1992) examined the use of a Cold War frame in much of

late 20th Century American journalism on international affairs which encouraged

Americans to situate international events in a Soviet-versus-United States conflict

perspective. Sniderman, Brody, and Tetlock (1991) discussed the alternative framing of

AIDS as either a public health or a civil liberties issue. Miller and Krosnick (1997) used

the agenda-setting hypothesis to trace surges and declines in presidential popularity to


media contextualization, specifically exploring Clinton’s run in the New Hampshire

primarily election in 1992 (Farnsworth & Lichter, 1999).

Entman (1993) purports that “journalists may follow the rules for objective

reporting and yet convey a dominant framing of the news that prevents most audience

members from making a balanced assessment of a situation” ( p.57).

Goffman (1974), one of the earliest proponents of framing, drew his concepts from

ethnomethodology, and focused on “the role of frames in the constitution of subjective

meaning” (p. 10-11). Tuchman (1978) used ‘frame’ as “a mediating concept between the

social production of meaning, the producers of meaning, and the reception of meaning in

the analysis of news” (p. 7). Goffman (1974) defined a frame as a ‘schemata of

interpretation’ that provides a context for understanding information and assists

individuals to “locate, perceive, identify and label” (p. 21).

The frame in which the message is presented will limit and define its meaning

(Hallahan, 1999). The individuals who are the message creators are termed ‘framers’.

There are three main types of framing; (a) valance framing, which presents information

from either a positive or negative view point; (b) semantic framing, which is the

alternative phrasing of terms; and (c) story framing, which is the most complex due to the

selection of key themes and the inclusion of narrative techniques (Hallahan, 1999).

Pan and Kosicki (1993) suggest that framing is defined by a series of structures

within a message. Hallahan (1999) defined these as stable patterns of arranging words

and termed them syntactical structures.


Duhe and Zoch (1994) contend that the framing metaphor adopted by public

relations practitioners and researchers defines the process of ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’

of information and seeks to place emphasis on specific information.

Framing operates through two mechanisms, first by influencing individuals in the

cognitive process of decision making and second by priming messages. Kahneman and

Tversky (1979) first suggested the ‘cognitive heuristic’ and the effects of positive versus

negative framing on decision making by an individual. They explored what guides

individuals in making decisions in situations of risk and uncertainty such as in a crisis.

Hamilton and Zanna (1972) and Pratto and John (1991) explored and expanded on the

effects of negative framing. They concluded that negative framing influences individuals

in the processing of the message. Specifically, negative framing can prompt publics to

explore the message in greater detail. This finding is supported by the research

undertaken by Maheswaran and Meyers-Levy (1990) who concluded that message

framing effects vary with the level of involvement by individuals.

Framing also operates through the mechanism of priming. This is based on the

premise that the human memory operates in cognitive structures or ‘schemas’ (Hallahan,

1999). These schemas control the arrangement and interpretation of events and situations

(Bartlett, 1932). While Alba & Hasher (1983) have challenged the schematic

organisation of memory, researchers are in agreement that schematic processing

describes how individuals use association and expectation to draw inferences about

events (Hallahan, 1999). Therefore, framing can affect the cognitive processing of

message interpretation and priming affects how an individual uses the message cues to

retrieve knowledge from memory.


Cutlip et al. (2000) defined public relations in terms of the practice’s ability to

manage the relationship between an organisations and its publics. Framing, therefore,

plays a vital role in public relations. The development of ‘frames of reference’ for issues

of mutual interest between the organisation and its publics is an essential aspect in

maintaining successful relationships as asserted by Cutlip et al. (2000) and as a

consequence elevates framing to an essential aspect of the public relations function.

While framing is considered a useful theoretical concept, it suffers from a lack of

definition. Hallahan (1999) conducted an exhaustive search of literature and explored

more than 1,000 citations about framing in academic literature. He conceded that one of

concept’s weaknesses is also one of its greatest strengths, in that framing provides the

context within which information is presented. Hallahan (1999) sought to utilize the

framing theory to explore public relations. He identified seven models of framing

applicable to public relations practice, these are framing of: situations, attributes, choices,

actions, issues, responsibility and news and are presented in Table 1 (Hallahan, 1999).


Table 1

Typology of seven models of framing applicable to public relations, Hallahan (1999).


What is framed Description Key Sources

Situations Relationships between individuals in

situations found in everyday living and

literature. Framing situations provides

structure for examining communication.

Applies to discourse analysis, negotiation,

and other interactions.

(Bateson, 1972;

Goffman, 1974;

Homer & Yoon,

1992; Tannen,

1993)

Attributes Characteristics of objects and people are

accentuated whereas others are ignored,

thus biasing processing of information in

terms of focal attributes.

(Ghanem, 1997;

Levin, Schneider, &

Gaeth, 1998;

McCoombs &

Ghanem, 1998; Reis

& Trout, 1981;

Wright & Lutz,

1993)

Choices Posing alternative decisions in either

negative (loss) or positive (gain) terms can

bias choices in situations involving

uncertainty. Prospect theory suggests

people will take greater risks to avoid

losses than to obtain gains.

(Bell, Raiffa, &

Tversky, 1988;

Kahneman &

Tversky, 1979;

Levin et al., 1998)

Actions In persuasive contexts, the probability that (Maheswaran &


a person will act to attain a desired goal is

influenced by whether alternatives are

stated in positive or negative terms.

Meyers-Levy, 1990;

Smith & Petty,

1996)

Issues Social problems and disputes can be

explained in alternative terms by different

parties who want their preferred definition

to a problem or situation to prevail.

(Best, 1995;

Gamson &

Modigham, 1989;

Snow & Benford,

1992)

Responsibility Individuals tend to attribute cause of events

to either internal or external factors, based

on levels of stability and control. People

portray their role in events consistent with

their self-image in ways that maximize

benefits and minimize culpability. People

attribute causes to personal actions rather

than systemic problems in society.

(Iyengar, 1991;

Iyengar & Kinder,

1986; Kelly, 1989;

Wallack, Dorfman,

Jernigan, &

Themba, 1993)

News Media reports use familiar, culturally

resonating themes to relay information

about events. Sources vie for their

preferred framing to be featured through

frame enterprise and frame sponsorship.

(Gamson, Croteau,

Hoynes, & Sasson,

1992; Ryan, 1991)


The final model is presented by Hallahan (1999), is news framing. This model is

relevant to public relations and this study because the model relates how news stories are

presented by mass media whose aim is to explain complex ideas in familiar, culturally

acceptable terms. Hallahan (1999) asserts that this model of news framing can

incorporate other models presented in Table One.

News Framing

Throughout the last decade, framing has been used extensively in public relations

research to measure and comprehend news processes and effects (Hallahan, 1999).

The frame analysis uses the principle that the news in general, and in particular the

case under observation, is not simply made up of random coverage of external events, but

is rather a specific process of selection and construction (Tuchman, 1978). This process is

social in origin, in the sense that news coverage is socially constructed, established by a

combination of news coverage routines at the news organizational level. While news

norms are preserved and reproduced by the journalists themselves, who follow a number

of set processes in the selection, gathering, and production of news stories (Gamson &

Modigham, 1989; Tuchman, 1978).

Gamson (1992), Gamson and Lasch (1983), Gamson and Modigham (1989) claim

that the ideas or themes that appear are media packages that feature a main theme with

framing devices which support the theme. Journalists typically portray the events

covered by describing them in ways familiar to the audience (Gamson, 1992). Events can

be tied to current local issues, or even to other events of which the audience might have a

better understanding. Finding news frames is important for journalists because successful


frames must be based on values that also exist as individual’s personal frames of

reference.

Goffman (1974) described personal frames as ways to organize individual

experiences in a manner that assists the individual in understanding the ‘world around

them’. Snow and Benford (1992) develops this concept further with the idea of master

frames through which responsibility, both for the problem and the treatment of which, is

attributed.

Entman (1993) broadens the concept of specific event frames to the mass media. In

general news, this is defined as an investigation of the manner in which government, the

media, and the public create an understanding of the complexities of events. Entman

(1993) and Iyengar (1991) purport that there is a relationship between dominant frames

of issues presented by the media, the treatment options advocated by government and

supported by the media, and public attitude. By presenting images which link the various

parts of the topic and draw on popular culture shared by publics, journalists can present a

specific picture of a given issue (Entman, 1993; Gamson, 1992). The American press

during the Cold War elected to present many international events within the context of

the United States of America-Soviet conflict as it simplified complex issues into a

recognizable formula. After the events of 9-11 media outlets have sought to devise new

definitive frames relating to terrorism through which both domestic and international

affairs news are presented.

Winterstein (1998) examined The New York Times coverage of nuclear testing by

France and China just prior to the passage of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in

1996. The United States of American government provided information to journalists


influencing them towards a diplomatic frame. In this study, when the United States of

American government was used as a source and a stakeholder, The New York Times

relied on the frame provided by the government. However, when such a frame was not

provided by the government, the coverage was opened to permit other groups to promote

different frames.

Hanson (1995) constructed a case study of how to combine a quantitative content

analysis of a medium to gauge what type of news is covered. She used a qualitative

frame analysis of that same medium, to get at how and why of the news being covered.

This longitudinal study of The Times of India explored how news was framed in that

paper after the collapse of the Cold War narrative.

Hanson (1995) defined framing as “the repetition of certain topics, ideas, and

images in association with each other [that] becomes a self-reinforcing process that in

turn shapes future decisions about the direction of news” (p. 371). She presented the

analogy of a changing paradigm: "like a scientific paradigm, frames persist until an

overwhelming amount of discrepant information forces them to change. Even then, the

old frame persists as an alternative picture of reality, and the debate continues.” (Hanson,

1995, p. 372)

Entman (1991) opines that “nowhere is there a general statement of framing theory

that shows exactly how frames become embedded within and make themselves manifest

in a text, or how framing influences thinking” ( p. 15). Entman (1991) establishes frame

analysis as a legitimate communications-inspired research paradigm.

“Frame analysis illuminates the precise way in which influence over a human

consciousness is exerted by the transfer (or communication) of information from one


location such as speech, utterance, news report, or novel to that consciousness.” (Entman,

1991, p. 16)

In this context, framing involves selection and salience. Entman (1991) emphasizes

that 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. Entman

(1991) also notes that a frame analysis does not necessarily need to address all four of

these factors.

As a consequence, Entman’s (1991) research constitutes the foundation of the mass

media and accommodates links to the Crisis Life Cycle model. Entman (1991) presents

the concept of salience as a central factor, since textual references can make certain

pieces of information more salient “by placement or repetition, or by associating them

with culturally familiar symbols, to be salient, however, the reference has to match with

the existing schemata in a receiver’s belief system” (p. 23).

Public relations practitioners assert their ability to influence agenda-setting and

framing processes in mass media (Fortunato, 2000).

Mass Media Themes and Focusing Events

Kingdon (1995) first defined focusing events as events that caused bureaucrats,

elected officials, and the general public to pay greater attention to the problems revealed

by these events. Birkland (1997) citing Cobb and Elder (1983), Baumgartner and Jones

(1993) and Light (1982) identified that the result of focusing events is the stimulation of

greater public interest in a problem.


The manner in which these focusing events are brought to the attention of publics is

typically via mass media (Kingdon, 1995). Birkland (1997) claims that the “initial

reaction to a focusing event is detectable in the news media. News imperatives make

sudden, novel, and injurious events particularly attractive to news coverage” (p. 30).

Birkland (1997) further claims that the drama of a focusing event is such that once the

event has occurred the issue is elevated on the media agenda.

For the purpose of this study, Birkland’s (1997) identification of a ‘focusing event’

is developed for the definition of a theme in mass media content. Birkland (1997)

identified categories of focusing events. The first are ‘normal focusing events’ where the

term ‘normal’ is used in the same manner as Perrow (1984), this being that this focusing

event “…can be expected to happen sometime…” (p.15). These “normal focusing events

include natural disasters, events caused by human error such as oil spills, nuclear plant

accidents and acts of terrorism. Second are ‘new focusing events’, which are defined as

events ‘that has never happened before or happened so long ago…have faded from

memory’” (Birkland, 1997, p. 145). This term includes events of the loss of the space

shuttle Challenger in 1986 and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Finally, Birkland

(1997) identifies the third type of focusing event as “common events under uncommon

circumstances”. This definition includes political scandals and violent crimes.

Drawing on Birkland’s (1997) definition, this study defines “a mass media content

theme as coverage of a focusing event” (p. 145). The theme’s attributes in mass media

content change during the Crisis Life Cycle, changing from descriptive to explanatory to

blame and responsibility themes before a resolution theme appears in mass media

content.


CRISES

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (Onions, C.T. Ed., 1973) defines a crisis as;

“A decision, judgment, event, issue, turning-point of a disease. A turning point in

the progress of anything; also, a state of affairs in which a decisive change for better or

worse is imminent” (p. 457).

The online Merriam Webster Dictionary defines a crisis as:

“The turning point for better or worse in an emotionally significant event; radical

change of status in a person's life; the moment in an unstable or crucial time or state of

affairs in which a decisive change is impending; one with the distinct possibility of a

highly undesirable change; a situation that has reached a critical phase”(Merriam Webster

Dictionary, 2002).

Crisis research has been undertaken in various disciplines: business, management,

sociology, psychology, mass communications and most recently public relations and is

extremely fragmented. Pauchant and Mitroff (1988) and Bronn and Olson (1999) support

the view of fragmentation of research in the area. The multi-disciplinary nature of crisis

research provides a unique set of challenges for public relations research on this topic

(Mitroff, 1994). Pauchant (1988) described the field of crisis management as “in its

infancy” (p. 50). He also asserts that the “lack of empirical findings in crisis

management increased the degree of difficulty of studying in this field” (Pauchant, 1988,

p. 51).

The body of social science literature prior to 1988 provides few comprehensive

definitions of crises (Mitroff, 1996; Pinsdorf, 1999). Semantics have affected the

development of definition with various terms including: emergency (Marra, 1992),


disaster (Quarantelli, 1988), tragedy (Mitroff et al., 1987) and accident (Perrow, 1984),

all of which have been used regularly to describe crises.

Seeger, Sellnow and Ulmer’s (1998) definition of a crisis was derived after

extensive analysis of the current body of crisis literature “a specific, unexpected and non-

routine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and threaten or are

perceived to threaten an organisation’s high priority goals” (p. 233).

This study utilizes the issue-based view from Fink (1986), Dutton (1986),

Gonzalez-Herrero (1996), and Heath (1997, 2001) who purport that a crisis can occur

from both threats and opportunities that the organisation encounters, arising from either

internal or external issues.

Crisis Typologies

A series of crisis typologies can be found in crisis literature (Coombs, 1999;

Egelhoff, 1992; Egelhoff & Sen, 1992; Mitroff, 1994; Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988; Sturges,

1994). Gottschalk (1993) grouped crises into business calamities, consumer troubles, and

human tragedies. Coombs (1999) produced a detailed master list drawn from the vast

range of crises identified in current literature.

Natural disasters have a negative impact on the organisation (Coombs, 1999;

Egelhoff & Sen, 1992; Fearn-Banks, 1996). These events are often termed ‘acts of God’

in mass media content. Recent examples include the January 2002 bush fires in New

South Wales, Hurricane Andrew in Florida and in 2000 earthquakes in northern Turkey.

A malevolent crisis is an event when someone with no association to the

organisation utilizes extreme tactics to express anger toward the organisation, for


example the Tylenol tampering crisis and 9/11 (Coombs, 1999; Egelhoff & Sen, 1992;

Fearn-Banks, 1996; Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988).

Technical breakdown crises occur due to poor technical support by the organisation

or products supplied by the organisation fail or break down, such as the Intel Pentium

chip recall (Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988).

Human breakdown crises result from actions of individuals employed by the

organisation. Chernobyl and Three Mile Island accidents were both caused by human

error (Coombs, 1999; Lerbinger, 1997).

Challenges are crises organisations face when confronted by discontented publics

such as the Nestle boycott, and the Dow Corning breast implant compensation legal

action and the Australian Pilot’s strike(Lerbinger, 1997; Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988).

A mega damage crisis occurs when an accident creates significant environmental

damage. Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 is ranked as the 30th worst oil spill in maritime

history, yet has the highest profile accident of this nature due to mass media coverage

(Fearn-Banks, 1996; Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988).

An organisational misdeed crisis transpires from organisational actions that

management has taken with the knowledge the actions will harm or place publics at risk

for harm without adequate precautions. Typically, these acts discredit or disgrace the

organisation (Lerbinger, 1997). Sample organisational misdeeds include Enron and

OneTel’s corporate collapses in 2001 and Xerox corporate collapse in 2002.

Workplace violence crises results from violence committed by an employee or

former employee against other employees on organisational grounds such as in the case

of various shootings in the United States (Coombs, 1999; Fearn-Banks, 1996).


Finally, rumour crises eventuate when false information is dispensed regarding an

organisation or its products. This false information impacts on the organisation’s

reputation, recent examples include the Proctor and Gamble logo which was purported to

indicate devil worship (Fearn-Banks, 1996).

Crisis Public Relations

Little of the research in crisis management has been integrated across disciplines,

and the body of literature has largely ignored the public relations function. Mitroff

(1988), Barton (1993), Kelly (1989), Burson (1985), Dutton (1986) have focused on the

effective management of crises by organisations from a business perspective. Initial

crises mass communication research was undertaken by Wilkens (1987) and Scanlon

(1989). Both researchers examined the role of mass media and methods employed to

disseminate information to the various publics before, during and post crises.

Crisis communication strategy has been a prolific area of research during the latter

1990s (Fishman, 1999). The focus of crisis communication research has developed from

the technical methodology of guidelines and generic plans (Barton, 1993; Fink, 1986) to

a stronger theoretical approach and analysis of role of public relations within the

management of a crisis (Williams & Olaniran, 1994; Marra, 1998; Heath, 2001).

Fishman (1999) asserts that crisis communication began after the 1962 Cuban missile

conflict in the United States, when the prime objective was to prevent the crisis from

occurring and to measure the costs of selected actions.

To date much of the crisis communication literature has focused on the

development of crisis communication management plans (Coombs, 1995, 1999). The

plans proposed are predicative in nature (Barton, 1993; Coombs, 1995, 1999). Coombs


sought to further define this approach and devised a three-staged plan of pre-crisis, crisis

event and post-crisis. Marra (1992) presented a differing view stating that static plans

while useful as a framework are not effective when crises occur. Reinsch and Reinsch

(1996), described the study of crisis communication as a “diverse and evolving field” (p.

41).

The importance of crisis public relations activities in crisis management has been

well documented, however the prescriptive nature of the public relations literature is

limiting. The majority of research focuses on technical skills, presenting detailed

analysis of the technical elements including crisis communication plans and crisis public

relations response methods (Fitzpatrick & Rubin, 1995). According to Tymson and

Sherman (1996), Pines (1985) and Cutlip et al. (2000) crisis public relations activities

include: (a) coordinating staff to implement specified tasks, (b) determining the facts of

the crisis, (c) preparing an initial statement that covers all that is definite and provide the

media with all the facts that are available, (d) notifying key publics, (e) managing media

inquiries, (f) controlling media coverage, (g) selecting and briefing employees for media

interviews, as company employees are often sought by media for comment, and (h) not

allocating blame, at least until an investigation reveals the true facts. This prescriptive

approach limits the effectiveness of strategic crisis public relations (Marra, 1992).

In crisis public relations, diligence is an essential aspect of the role, and regardless

of the preparation, crisis public relations strategies will only be successful if all avenues

are explored and public relations practitioners are prepared for the unexpected (Fearn-

Banks, 1996). Public relations professionals face a range of issues during a crisis.

Coulter (1996) asserts the communication challenges and the principles of the strategies


are similar to normal business operations. While the most important issue faced for

public relations professionals in dealing with a crisis is maintaining control of the

message (Barton, 1993; Fearn-Banks, 1996; Marra, 1992).

The importance of crisis public relations strategy to organisations is accentuated by

two current trends. First, the mass media and digital revolution that has ensured vast

coverage of crises internationally (Barr, 2000; Hearn et al., 1998). And second, the

awareness of how crises can impact on organisations in terms of reputation, financial

status and perceptions held by significant publics (Pauchant & Mitroff, 1988; Mitroff,

1996).

Coombs (2000) asserts that the most important component of crisis public relations

strategy is the development and implementation of a theoretical and effective media

relations campaign. He claims that the media plays a vital role in an organisation’s

attempt to convey key messages to targeted publics. He also cautions that mass media

content can damage reputations by creating negative publicity through publishing

rumours and innuendo.

Fink (1986) and Quarantelli (1988) assert that ‘best practice’ crisis public relations

happens when an organisation has undertaken preparation for possible crises and has a

plan for performance during a specific time period associated with a crisis. Today, the

focus of crisis public relations strategy extends beyond the operational timeframe and

affected publics to incorporate crisis communication theory (Marra, 1998).

The majority of crisis communication theories extend the public relations

excellence theory proposed by Grunig and Hunt (1984). Excellence theory divides

recognized practices of public relations into four areas or ‘models’. These models are


used to define the types of public relations practiced. Grunig (1992) expanded excellence

theory and further refined the models developed. These models, the Press

Agentry/Publicity model, the Public Information model, the Two-Way Asymmetric

model and the Two-Way Symmetric model explain the communication process between

an organisation and its publics. Grunig and Repper (1992) assert that symmetrical

communication based on the presuppositions of ‘listening, negotiation and compromise’

is the best practice for public relations practitioners, particularly during crises.

Barton (1993) Carney and Jorden (1993) and Fearn-Banks (1996) maintain that a

crisis public relations strategy is essential, yet all provide prescriptive frameworks

illustrating a lack of theory building within the literature. Marra (1992) sought to

develop a crisis public relations strategy framework drawing on the Grunig and Repper

(1992) communication model. Marken (1998) asserts that effective crisis public relations

programs will have a profound affect on short-term outcomes and long-term results for an

organisation. Pinsdorf (2001) extends Marken’s claim asserting that executives who are

continually vigilant for early warning signs of imminent crises and prepare for such

incidents by devising a crisis management plan in line with organisational and

communication strategies will be successful. These early warning signs typically appear

in mass media coverage raising the public awareness of an topic.

The similar theme in the writings of Grunig, Fearn-Banks, Cutlip et al., White, and

Pinsdorf is that there are four common elements have been considered as the basis for

developing a crisis public relations strategy.

The first element is comprehension of the issue. Critical to this understanding is the

management of the crisis (Fearn-Banks, 1996; Gonzalez-Herrero & Pratt, 1995). All


recommend that an audit of the company is undertaken to examine any areas that may be

susceptible to adverse publicity (Carney & Jorden, 1993; Marken, 1998). Tabris (1984)

posits that crisis audits are the means by which organisations can identify potential

threats and develop instruments to manage these issues should they occur. An issue can

appear in the mass media coverage prior to the onset of actual ‘crisis’. Tabris (1984)

claims the success of such an audit is dependent on the communication between the

organisation and its publics. Cutlip et al. (2000) assert that the prime communication tool

used in public relations is mass media. As a consequence of the assertions made by

Cutlip et al. (2000) and Tabris (1984) mass media content is a very important aspect of a

successful crisis public relations strategy.

Crisis management plans have become the focus for crisis management (Mitroff,

1996). These plans are prescriptive in nature providing a framework for action (Marra,

1992). Reinhardt (1987) recommends that in time of crisis prior to any communication

with the organisation’s publics that a situation analysis of the crisis be undertaken.

Further, he contends that an examination of the scope to the situation including the legal

implications, and whether the legal ramifications will override the public’s perception of

the issue is vital (Reinhardt, 1987).

The second element of crisis public relations strategy is the identification of all

publics involved with and affected by the crisis. Once identified the organisation should

identify the target publics such as shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and

mass media (Hendrix, 1995; Pinsdorf, 1999). Center and Jackson (1995) recommend a

crafted message be developed that delivers information and allows the organisation to

maintain control of communication. The key message should be adapted for each target


public as, for example, the information provided to the marketing department within the

organisation will differ from the information released to mass media (Pinsdorf, 1987).

Thirdly, how the information will be communicated is extremely important (Grunig

& Grunig, 1992). White and Mazur (1995) assert that the medium of the message is as

important as the message itself. The channel of communication selected establishes the

‘tone’ for the remaining activities related to the crisis (Carney & Jorden, 1993).

Careful execution of crisis public relations strategy ensures the strategy is effective;

planning for the situation can never be overemphasized (Pinsdorf 1987; Carney & Jorden

1993). Post crisis activity analysis is one of the most critical aspects of a crisis public

relations strategy (Cutlip et al., 2000). Understanding the success and failure of a

strategy further strengthens the public relations practitioner’s skills and improves future

outcomes, while shaping future strategy. The development of long term communications

strategies will enable the organisation to meet the challenges presented during crisis

activity in a professional and effective manner, ensuring that a sound corporate image is

maintained (Marken, 1998).

During the crisis, the media becomes more important due to the potential damage of

negative mass media coverage. Coombs (2000) suggests that the seriousness of a crisis is

determined by the mass media’s reaction to the crisis. Marra (1992), Barton (1993) and

Fearn-Banks (1996) identify that effective use of mass media has numerous benefits

including: (a) the opportunity for the organisation to act in a proactive rather than reactive

manner; (b) greater chance of control of the message, (c) the ability to correct

misinformation, and (d) retain control of the situation. Communication research argues

that early, accurate public responses to crises by organisations can minimize the potential


damage to the organisation’s credibility (Marconi, 1992; Seeger et al., 1998; Williams &

Treadaway, 1992). Yet the threat and urgency that accompanies crisis situations often

prevents the identification and communication of accurate messages to the various

publics (Fink, 1986; Seeger, 1986; Sellnow, 1993; Sellnow & Ulmer, 1995). The result

is often vague crisis communication by organisations.

Fearn-Banks (1996) counsels that failure to meet with mass media can create the

impression that the organisation is not in control of the situation. Allen and Caillouet’s

(1996) research in crisis public relations has revealed that an ingratiating strategy was

atypical for crisis public relations strategy. They also identified intimidation and

denouncement strategies for specific targeted publics as tools to manage crisis

communication. Sellnow and Ulmer (1993) contradicted standard crisis management

practice of ‘one message, one voice’ through the identification of the success of

presenting contradictory messages to specific publics. Using the Exxon Valdez disaster

as an example, Sellnow and Ulmer (1993) offered evidence to support the scientific

arguments presented by Exxon. This information was used to defend the contradictory

statements made by Exxon personnel during the crisis.

Benoit (1997) used image restoration discourse to evaluate the crisis responses of

organisations. He identified image repair strategies as “denial, evading responsibility,

reducing offensiveness, correcting action and mortification”(p. 177). Brinson and Benoit

(1996) mapped public opinion in terms of the Dow Corning crisis and identified that the

initial response of denial was poorly received but the shift to mortification by Dow

Corning had a significant impact on public opinion. Both responses were communicated

to the target publics by mass media.


Seymour & Moore (2000) sought to rectify poor crisis communication by the

development of a crisis communication theoretical model, the 5C’s of Communication.

Seymour & Moore (2000) assert that this model is the best method of managing

communication during a crisis:

1. “Care, all communication should indicate that the company cares about the

issue and empathizes with affected publics;

2. Commitment, the company should declare and act to demonstrate it will to

solve the problem, identify the cause and take action to prevent it from

reoccurring;

3. Consistency, the communication message to all publics must inform each

group regarding the crisis with the same message;

4. Coherence, all communication should progress in a logical manner;

5. Clarity, the issues should be clearly explained and the company’s position

and action clarified” (p. 99).

They also argue that internal and external communication should meet the five key

criteria stated. This framework provides new insight into methods of communication

during crises. Fearn-Banks (1996) claims that crisis public relations should be seen as a

long term strategy rather than the prescriptive series of responses recommended after the

Acute Stage of the Crisis Life Cycle. Further, crisis public relations is the process of

mitigating harm, managing the publics needs and repairing the reputation of the

organisation during the Crisis Life Cycle.


Crisis Life Cycle

Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model is derived from the marketing product life

cycle. The product life cycle is a concept used in marketing to interpret product and

market dynamics. Most applications of the product life cycle use a form of sales or

consumption data to map a curve over time. There are four stages in the product life

cycle: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The application of product life cycle

theory implies organisations should develop and implement marketing strategies pursuant

with the service or product’s position relative to the four stages of the product life cycle

(Kotler, 1991). The original concept of the product life cycle is derived from the

biological life cycle of a plant. In reality very few products follow such a prescriptive

cycle and the length of each stage varies enormously. Kotler (1991) asserts that in using

the product life cycle framework, marketers can more successfully manage products.

Further, he contends that not all products go through each stage as some products go from

introduction to decline in one step.

The concept that crises progress in a certain manner or follow a life cycle was

developed in the early 1980s and is consistent with crisis management literature from this

period (Fink 1986; Barton, 1993; Mitroff, 1994; Sturges, 1994; Coombs, 1999). Fink

(1986) developed the concept and produced the Crisis Life Cycle model. As marketing

researchers used the product lifecycle to interpret product and market dynamics he sought

to apply the Crisis Life Cycle model to better understand crisis behaviours. Fink’s (1986)

model presents four distinct phases whose titles are grounded in medical terminology: the

Prodromal Crisis, Acute Crisis, Chronic Crisis and Crisis Resolution.


He presented four identifiable stages of a crisis and defined each stage with specific

terms and initiated a management program for crises using this life cycle model.

Barton’s (1993) four stage crisis management model and Mitroff’s (1994) five stage

crisis management model were developed in response to Fink’s Crisis Life Cycle

delimitation. Fearn-Banks (1996) sought to refine Barton’s model for crisis management.

Figure 1 illustrates Fink’s (1986) model defining the four stages of a crisis and the

process of the life cycle.


Figure Caption

Figure 1. The sequence of the four stages of a crisis as identified in Fink’s (1986) Crisis

Life Cycle Model (p. 26).



Fink (1986) claimed not every crisis will experience all four stages and the entire

lifecycle can occur within 24 hours. He asserted that crises are dynamic and unstable

occurrences, with no two crises being the same. Further, he explained that crises were

not recognised as crises by publics and most organisations until the crisis reached the

Acute Stage in the Crisis Life Cycle.

Fink (1986) identified the Prodromal Crisis Stage as the ‘warning or pre-crisis

stage’. At this initial stage impact of the crisis on the organisation is yet to be

experienced. Retrospectively actions that occur to prevent the crisis occurring often

happen too late to prevent the crisis from progressing. The term ‘pre-crisis’ is usually

used only after the crisis has progressed to the Acute Stage (Mitroff, 1994).

Fink (1986) claims that Prodromes will vary in appearance. An apparent Prodrome

is, for example, the recent announcement of strike action by Qantas baggage handlers.

More difficult to detect are the oblique Prodromes where events or actions are not known

by management or are not perceived to be a threat to the organisation.

One Ansett Prodrome was the company’s failure to fulfil its maintenance schedule

within Boeing’s timeframe for aircraft engines in its fleet. Information regarding the

maintenance failure appeared in mass media in December 2000. Thereby raising

awareness of this Prodrome with various publics. Ansett staff were aware of this

Prodrome but failed on act.

Prodromes can also be clearly visible, but the organisation fails to act. NASA was

aware that freezing temperatures could affect the Space Shuttle, but the perceived need

by management to maintain the Space Program led to ‘obsessive decision making’ by

management (Gottschalk, 1993). In 1986 the pharmaceutical industry acted on the


Prodrome and undertook preventative actions after the Tylenol capsule poisoning

(Benson, 1988). Other pharmaceutical companies introduced tamper free packaging in

response to the Tylenol case, thereby preventing a possible tampering crisis for their

organisation (Fearn-Banks 1996). While the event was at the Acute Stage of the crisis for

Tylenol, the rest of the industry was distanced from the company crisis and mass media

content for the remainder of the industry is categorised as Prodromal.

Fink (1986) asserts that identification and management of Prodromes are essential,

as it is much easier to control and manage the crisis in the early stage of its life cycle.

When a crisis progresses to the acute stage, reaction to the situation is the only possible

option for a public relations practitioner. If management of the Prodrome is not possible,

Fink (1986) asserts that knowledge of Prodromes will assist in crisis management during

the final three stages of the crisis life cycle.

In terms of crisis management, Barton (1993) claims that organisations who remain

sensitive to their environment, monitor mass media content, and explore relevant trends

are better positioned to recognize crises. Further, with proactive management, Gonzalez-

Herrero and Pratt (1996) affirm that early intervention can minimize damage for the

organisation.

Fink (1986) stated that control in the Prodromal Stage decreases the impact of

potential damage to the organisation. Once a crisis has progressed to the Acute Stage of

the Crisis Life Cycle, reactive strategies are the only option to public relations

professionals. Barton (1993), Mitroff (1994), Fearn-Banks (1996) and Seymour and

Moore (2000) contend that management of the message can diminish the impact of the


impending crisis and enable public relation professionals to lessen the potential impact of

the Prodromes.

Shrivastava (1993) presented the 4C’s of framing in his research of crises. He

defined the four major aspects of crises as “causes, consequences, caution and coping”

(Shrivastava, 1993, p. 30). He also used the term ‘triggering event’ to explain the

catalyst for crises occurring. Pearson and Clair (1998) drew on Shrivastava’s research

also using the term ‘triggering event’ in their discussion of the adoption of organizational

crisis management (p. 65). They defined the ‘triggering event’ as the factor that causes

the crisis to progress from the Prodromal to Acute Stage.

A Prodrome often appears as a small news story in mass media content and is the

precursor to the Acute Crisis stage. These themes represent repeated messages and

indicators that offer warning signs to the organisation of possible crises. The occurrence

of the theme and the potential impact mass media coverage related to the theme will have

on an organisation depends on early detection and intervention by public relations

practitioners. Drawn from Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model, trigger themes have

the potential to “(a) escalate in intensity, (b) increase close media and/or government

scrutiny, (c) interfere with normal organizational operations, (d) jeopardize positive

public image, and (e) adversely effect profitability” ( p. 42).

Pauchant & Mitroff (1992) claim that public relations practitioners who practise

strategic public relations will assist their organisations in managing threats and

opportunities when they appear as trigger themes in mass media. The organisation would

avoid the damaging impact of a crisis and subsequent mass media coverage.


The Acute Crisis Stage occurs immediately after the Prodromal stage. Fink (1986)

claims organisations will suffer some damage, the extent of which depends on the

organisation chooses to manage the crisis. Fink (1986) defines this stage as the shortest

and most intense stage of the crisis. Once the warning or Prodromal phase has ended, the

damage the crisis does to an organisation depends on how the organisation manages of

the issue and how the publics react (Fink, 1986). Failure to act ensures the organisation

loses control of the message (Coombs, 2000). An example is the 1986 Challenger

disaster when it took NASA five hours to make its first comments to the press during

which time the media sourced their own information and presented that to the public

(Barton, 1993). This delay allowed mass media control of the message to the target

publics and mass media maintained this control throughout the remainder of the crisis

(Fishman, 1999).

Researchers claim the key to crisis management is control of the message (Fink,

1986; Barton, 1993; Mitroff, 1994; Seymour & Moore, 2000). The media’s ability to

communicate news as soon as it happens has forced organisations to develop crisis

strategies that can be implemented expeditiously (Fink, 1986). According to Pines

(1985), management at this stage should focus solely on taking care of any casualities,

controlling damage, and returning the organisation to normal operating conditions as

quickly as possible. Failure to effectively respond to the crisis can often bring unwanted

reactions (Pines, 1985). Lack of message management relinquishes control to mass

media who will retain control throughout the remainder of the crisis and drive agendas

according to specific aims and objectives (Ogrizek & Guillery, 1999).


Fink’s (1986) Chronic Crisis or post-mortem stage occurs when the organisation

undertakes an audit of the events, activities and reactions to the crisis. This stage of the

crisis can be lengthy with litigation extending the period of post-mortem (Barton, 1993).

The crisis can be replayed in the courts once the Acute Stage of mass media content has

passed. This mass media content again raises the public’s awareness of the crisis during

this stage.

Fearn-Banks (1996) contends this is the containment stage, when organisations

endeavour to limit the impact of the crisis. Barton (1993) claims organisations that enjoy

a positive public image before the crisis will be allowed more scope for explanation by

stakeholders than those whose reputation is already susceptible to closer scrutiny.

Litigation regularly extends the Crisis Life Cycle, current examples of how

litigation impacts on organisations are crises such as the HIH Royal Commission where

extensive mass media coverage reporting on the Commission hearings and outcomes

continue to appear in mass media. During this stage mass media, typically will explore

the reasons for the crisis and mass media content evolves from reporting of the events of

the crisis to further explore the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the crisis.

Mass media content will: “(a) allocate blame to individuals and organisations for

the crisis, (b) explore why the crisis occurred and whether negligence can be assigned to

individuals or organisations, (c) define the crisis as a human mistake or an ‘Act of God’,

(d) undertake exhaustive analysis of impact of the crisis, and (e) assignment of

responsibility for the crisis” (Fink, 1986).

The fourth and final stage is Crisis Resolution where the organisation seeks to

resolve issues that created the crisis and its subsequent impact and effect on the


organisation, its publics and the physical and operational environment. Using mass

media to communicate the resolution of the crisis to relevant publics is a vital crisis

public relations objective (Fearn-Banks, 1996). Failure to achieve resolution of the

theme will allow the theme to become latent which could reappear at a later date and do

greater harm to the organisation. Fink (1986), Barton (1993), and Fearn-Banks (1996) all

recommend that resolution of the crisis is essential.

Fink (1986) was the first to present crises as extended occurrences, and not focus on

the actual ‘Acute’ phase of the crisis. The majority of cases studies of crises presented in

the public relations literature indicate the importance of crisis communication plans

(Fearn-Banks, 1996). However, recent research indicates that the true value of a crisis

communication plan is overrated (Marra, 1992) and that a strategic approach to crisis

public relations is required (Marra, 1998). Further, strong management of mass media

during the crisis is the key to crisis public relations success (Seymour & Moore, 2000).

Sturges (1994) expanded on Fink’s earlier work and explored the actions required at each

stage suggesting that crisis communication strategies should be developed to meet the life

cycle of a crisis. This study extends Sturges (1994) approach to describe the relationship

of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and mass media content in each stage of the

crisis to thereby inform crisis public relations strategy.

Crisis Management

Early research in crisis management focused on individual crisis case studies. The

discipline is now maturing as the focus has shifted to developing analytical

methodologies to explore crisis events and this focus has encouraged the integration of

various ideas and constructs of crisis communication (Fishman, 1999). Crisis


management research has sought to develop models and theory to assist in the

understanding and better management of crises. Crisis management literature focuses on

three areas of discussion:

1. Preparation for meeting the challenges of crises (Barton, 1993; Dutton,

1986; Fink, 1986; Kelly, 1989; Mitroff, 1996; Quarantelli, 1988;

Shrivastava & Mitroff, 1987).

2. The behaviour of the organisation and its publics during the crisis period

(Barton, 1993; Newsom & Carrell, 1986; Ressler, 1982).

3. Communication between the organisation and its publics during crises

(Barton, 1993; Newsom & Carrell, 1986).

There is a lack of research in the communication area of crisis management (Marra,

1992, Heath, 1997, 2001). Little research has been undertaken in reactive crisis

management to measure how this form of management impacts on the organisation

(Seeger, Sellnow & Ulmer, 2001). The reasons for this deficiency may be driven by the

relationship of poor management practice and methodological difficulties (Fink, 1986;

Meyers & Holusha, 1986; Heath, 2001, Hearit, 2001). Loosemore (1999) explored this

lack of research using grounded theory, investigating the communication patterns that

emerge in response to crises. He identified the forces that shape these patterns and the

relationship between these patterns to better inform crisis management efficiency.

Crisis management campaigns seek to address how key issues must be addressed to

minimize the damage and attempt to achieve a positive result from a negative situation.

Crisis management is a vital component of the long-term success of any company (Fink,

1986). Crisis plans can enable managers to meet and overcome the challenges faced


during a crisis, further fore planning allow managers to save time in the development of a

plan by implementing an already devised strategy (Barton, 1993).

One of the greatest threats to an organisation’s reputational capital occurs when a

significant crisis threatens, or actually does, focus negative public attention on the

organisation. This is typically communicated to publics by the mass media (Cutlip, et al.,

2000). The organisation’s reactions to the crisis, in terms of timing, communication and

corporate behaviour, will leave an indelible impression on the organisation’s publics

(Marra, 1992). How the various publics reacts will determine if the company survives

intact, and is able to recover from the incident (Coombs, 2000). Mass media content

plays a vital role in the communication of organisational messages to targeted publics.

Conversely, mass media has the power to damage the company's reputation thorough the

creation of negative publicity (Seymour & Moore, 2000). Barton (1993) and Coombs

(2000) assert the need for a cohesive, strategic approach to all organisational

communication for crisis public relations strategy. Any discrepancy in communication

will be exploited by mass media. For this reason, Barton (1993) Seymour and Moore

(2000) and Fearn-Banks (1996) assert that effective crisis management plans must

incorporate a comprehensive crisis public relations strategy. Coombs (1999) claims that

crisis management should occur in a ‘deliberate, precise, strategic manner, and not

develop in a reactive, emotional style’ as the reaction to the crisis will send clear message

to its publics regarding the values of the organisation.

Adept crisis management by Johnson & Johnson and Arnott’s Biscuits resulted in

the crisis each company experienced enhancing rather than tarnishing their organisational

reputation and image. In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol


capsules that had been laced with cyanide. Johnson & Johnson immediately withdrew all

Tylenol capsules from the United States of American market, at an estimated cost to the

company of $100 million (Benson, 1988). At the same time, the company embarked on a

comprehensive communication effort targeted at the pharmaceutical and medical

communities. Johnson & Johnson successfully presented itself to its publics as a

company that was willing to do what was right, regardless of the cost, and subsequently

regained its status as a market leader in the production and sale of paracetamol in six

months (Benson, 1988).

Similarly, Australian company Arnott's was able to emerge from the extortion crisis

with a positive outcome. In 1997, an extortionist threatened to poison biscuits if certain

police officers involved in a murder case were not given a lie detector test (Lindstrom,

2000). Arnott’s immediately informed police of the threat, and suspended a $20 million

advertising campaign, replacing it with a campaign designed to deliver continuous public

knowledge. Products were immediately removed from sale. Once the Acute Stage of

crisis was over Arnott’s enlisted a high profile personality with strong credibility in the

Australian market to front their advertisements, which concentrated on the safety of the

product, the manufacturing process, and Arnott’s factories (Vines, 2001). The astute

crisis management plan supported by a strong crisis public relations strategy resulted in

Arnott’s maintaining the loyalty of consumers, and retaining strong market share (Vines,

2001). Both cases are touted as ‘best practice’ crisis public relations.

Crisis Management Models

Fink (1986) presented a management plan for each stage of the Crisis Life Cycle

model. Sturges (1994) expanded on Fink’s earlier work and explored the actions required


at each stage suggesting that crisis public relations strategies should be developed to meet

the life cycle of a crisis. Sturges (1994) was the first to explore different crisis public

relation strategies for each stage of the crisis, asserting that the message needs to evolve

with the crisis. Barton (1993) expanded on Fink’s crisis lifecycle management to five

stages:

1 Prodromal Stage, where the monitoring of warning signs is essential;

2 Preparation/prevention stage, where reaction to warning signs and steps are

taken to prevent or reduce the effect of consequences;

3 Containment, the management of the crisis;

4 Recovery, the efforts undertaken to return operations to normal; and

5 Learning, this is when the organization endeavours to understand the

developments and build on knowledge for the future.

Mitroff also (1994) divided the management of a crisis into five stages:

1 Signal detection, when warning signs are exhibited;

2 Probing and prevention, when members of the organisation recognize the risk

factors and undertake activities to reduce its effect;

3 Damage containment, how the crisis is handled,

4 Recovery, when the organisation returns to normal organisational procedures

and activities; and

5 Learning, when the organisation undertakes an audit of the event and

improves the organisation’s crisis response mechanisms.

While there are differences between the approaches the similarities are evident.

Mitroff’s (1994) and Barton’s (1993) approach reflect Fink’s (1986) original approach to


the lifecycle definition, with the most striking difference being in the detection and

prevention stage where these academic models seeks to actively prevent crises, Fink

(1986) implies that crises may be prevented, Mitroff (1994) and Barton (1993) claim

crises can be prevented.

Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt (1995) elected to expand on Mitroff’s (1994) recovery

stage, they recommended that the final analysis stage of crisis management incorporated

effective management of the organisational publics, active monitoring of issues related to

the crisis, and improved communication with mass media during the three final stages of

crises.

Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt (1996) state that Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model

should be developed and become similar to a biological model. The four stages of

Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt’s (1996) model are birth, growth, maturity, and decline.

Each stage has very similar attributes to Fink’s (1986) model, however, Gonzalez-

Herrero and Pratt (1996) support Mitroff (1994) and Barton’s (1993) view that

management can avoid crises or “under take ‘crisis killing’ if management resolve issues

before they become crises” (Gonzalez-Herrero & Pratt, 1996, p.86). Further, with

proactive management, they assert that early intervention can minimize damage for the

organisation. Fearn-Banks (1996) drew from Barton’s crisis management model defining

a crisis in five stages: detection, prevention/preparation, containment, recovery, and

learning.

Grunig and Grunig’s (1992) two-symmetrical model communication seeks to

prevent, or at least limit the effect and lessen the duration of a crisis. Fearn-Banks (1996)

further argues that the various crisis theories support the concept that organisations with


crisis communication programs are better prepared to manage crises and therefore suffer

less damage from the experience. Fearn-Banks (1996) claims that from the outset of the

crisis, organisations have the opportunity to influence events. However once the Acute

Crisis stage is reached, organisations tend to lose their capacity to manage and control the

message relayed to organisational publics (Fearn-Banks, 1996). Fearn Bank’s (1996)

research endorses the prescriptive approach of static crisis programs.

Figure 2 illustrates the proactive side of the Pauchant and Mitroff’s (1992) Crisis

Management Model with strategic thinking added. Pauchant and Mitroff (1992) provide

further evidence that the identification of triggers is essential for sound crisis public

relations strategy.


Figure Caption

Figure 2. The proactive side of the Pauchant and Mitroff’s (1992) Crisis Management

Model with strategic thinking added (Bronn & Olson, 1999).



This model indicates that a strategic approach to crisis public relations will provide

greater control of the crisis and communication to relevant publics. Further, with

improved signal detection, the Pauchant and Mitroff (1992) model supports the study’s

description of the relationship between Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and mass

media content.

Penrose (2000) asserts that crisis research has evolved from the prescriptive

frameworks and models presented. He makes this assertion based on his analysis of

recent high profile case studies. Crisis management plans were once considered the most

important factor in successful crisis management (Pauchant & Mitroff, 1992). Citing

crises experienced by NASA and Union Carbide, Penrose (2000) explored the actions of

both companies. In both cases management failure is well documented, yet crisis

management plans were immediately available (Marra, 1998). The closed

communication culture of NASA exacerbated the crisis plan’s failure in that instance

(Marra, 1998). Union Carbide also suffered from management communication and

cultural communication issues (Marra, 1998). In both instances the culture of the

organisation had a direct result on the failure of the crisis plan. Prevailing literature

supports Penrose’s (2000) claim of corporate culture having a direct affect on the success

or failure of crisis public relations. Conversely, McDonald’s had not developed a crisis

plan for the ‘crazed gunman’ (Starman, 1993) yet the corporate culture of the

organisation assisted in the successful management of the crisis. “We are going to do

what’s right”, was the basis of the crisis management plan by McDonalds (Starman, 1993

p. 309). Management and the ethos of the company led to the successful management of

the crisis by using this open and frank approach.


Penrose (2000) and Marra (1998) identified the gap between the previously

presented strategies and models and intangibles such as corporate communication culture,

public relations effectiveness and management attitudes as significant factors for

consideration in crisis public relations strategy. This study describes the Crisis Life

Cycle and its relationship to mass media content in terms of crisis public relations

strategy.

Definitions of crisis public relations, crises, Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model,

mass media, framing, news framing and mass media content theme have been presented.

These definitions were drawn from a review literature on each of these topics. The

assertion has also been made that public relations research has tended to be prescriptive

and lacking in theoretical methodology.

The discussion of crisis public relations, crisis management, mass media and

framing provided a sense of the current developments in research and the relationship

with the discipline of public relations. The continued development of crisis public

relations requires researchers to move on from the list of guidelines and procedures,

which while essential do not assist in developing best practice for crisis public relations

theory. This chapter has sought to include theory development insights from other

disciplines and perspectives to provide the extension of Fink’s (1986) model in terms of

mass media content.

The following chapter will use these definitions as the foundation for the four

propositions offered in relation to the extension of Fink’s (1986) model of mass media

coverage. This description of the extension of Fink’s (1986) model and the relationship

with mass media content will inform crisis public relations theory.


Chapter Three

The literature review in Chapter Two described the elements for consideration in

strategic crisis public relations. Mass media content, in particular, is identified as an

important element of integrated crisis public relations strategy. The major conclusion

drawn from the literature review is that the current theoretical base should be extended to

link mass media content and Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.

In this chapter, the theoretical framework of Fink’s (1986) model is extended to

build an understanding of the nature of mass media content during a crisis. The extension

of this model serves as the foundation in the development of four propositions that are the

empirical ‘bridges’ between Fink’s (1986) model and the nature of mass media content

during a crisis. The focus of this thesis is to identify and describe the relationship

between the Crisis Life Cycle and mass media content. Further, this study will examine

the descriptive adequacy of the propositions, a series of indicators are developed to

anticipate mass media content during the Crisis Life Cycle.

The epistemological orientation of this study is positivist. The premise of which is

to generally test theory in an attempt to increase the predictive understanding of

phenomena (Yin, 1993). Sarantakos (1998) asserts that in theory construction, the

development of propositions or statements about the relationship between specified

concepts is undertaken when researchers aim to answer questions of ‘why’, while

classification systems are used to answer the questions of ‘what’. Johnson (1989) and

Stergrios (1991) identified three different forms of propositions: ‘postulates’ or original

propositions which are not derived from other propositions, ‘theorems’, propositions


developed from existing propositions, and ‘laws’ or true propositions that are repeated

and universally accepted.

The propositions developed for this study make assertions regarding the

relationship between the stages of Fink’s (1986) model and mass media content. The

purpose of these propositions is to describe changes in mass media content over the

period of a crisis. While Sarantakos (1998) argues that “propositions are limited in their

explanatory power, he accepts that when propositions ‘fit’ the study’s research aims, the

resulting data will answer research questions posed” (p.11). The four propositions form a

set of logically interrelated claims that describe mass media content during the course of

the Crisis Life Cycle. The propositions offer empirically accessible descriptions of the

relationship between the Crisis Life Cycle and mass media content and provide a testable

description of the model (Sarantakos, 1998). Each of the indicators posed identify

directly observable themes of mass media content and will be used to empirically define

the variables within the study.

Fink (1986) suggests that crises progress through four stages, each exhibiting its

own unique set of attributes. This study suggests that an extension of this model provides

the framework within which mass media content during a crisis can be described. This

study proposes that mass media content will present a series of themes during the Crisis

Life Cycle. The study’s extension of Fink’s (1986) model and its relationship to mass

media content during a crisis can inform crisis public relations strategy.

Figure Three represents the integration of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model

and four propositions related to mass media content. The propositions link mass media

content to each stage of a crisis. These propositions serve as the source of indicator

statements that anticipate mass media content based on the four stages of Fink’s (1986)


model. This approach allows the researcher to describe the themes throughout the Crisis

Life Cycle and explore the thematic change of mass media content. The propositions act

as the empirical bridges between Fink’s (1986) model and mass media content.

The theoretical foundation described in Chapter Two and the extension of Fink’s

(1986) model are used to produce a framework that describes the changing themes in

mass media content during the Crisis Life Cycle. As each stage of Fink’s (1986) model

contains different themes in mass media content, the components of the themes relate to

the four original propositions proposed. Each theme exhibits attributes pertinent to the

stage to which it is allocated.


Figure Caption

Figure 3 Empirical Bridges between Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle Model and Mass

Media Content.



PROPOSITIONS

For the purposes of this study four propositions have been developed. The

propositions are presented in chronological order, supported with by a statement related

to the components of the theme is presented. Further, the indicators are presented and

discussed. The purpose of each indicator is to examine the adequacy of each proposition

proposed for each stage of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.

Prodromal Crisis

Proposition One

In the Prodromal Crisis stage mass media content contains a pool of trigger themes

that could constitute the agenda for coverage of a crisis.

Fink (1986) described the first or Prodromal Stage of the model as the ‘warning

stage’. Mitroff (1996) identified the first stage as ‘signal detection’. Fearn-Banks (1996)

defined this stage as ‘Detection’ or the stage where warning signs of possible crises

appear. Barton (1993) and Mitroff (1996) redefined the term of ‘signal detection’ as

‘Pre-Crisis’, however, this term only appears retrospectively in crisis management

literature discussions relating to the second or Acute Crisis Stage in Fink’s (1986) model.

For the purposes of this study, Fink’s (1986) terms will be used; the first stage is the

Prodromal Stage of the Crisis Life Cycle Model.

Prodromes typically appear as small news stories in mass media. Fink (1986)

defined two different types of Prodromes. An apparent Prodrome is an event or issue

which when it occurs, creates a level of awareness by one or many publics related to the

organisation, its staff or its operations. Fink (1986) asserts that apparent Prodromes are

easy to identify and as a consequence, best managed by organisations. More difficult to

detect are the oblique Prodromes where events or actions are not known by management


or not perceived to threaten the organisation. Fink (1986) claims that identification and

management of Prodromes is essential in crisis management.

Fink (1986) describes this first stage as the ‘crisis build up’ or Prodromal period.

During this initial period of the crisis, Fink (1986) asserts that Prodromes appear as clues

or hints in mass media content. Mass media coverage of a Prodrome can pose a potential

threat to an organisation (Sturges, 1994). The manner in which mass media choose to

frame the Prodromes and the attributes Prodromes exhibit in mass media content is an

important aspect of this study.

This study proposes that mass media coverage of each Prodrome is termed a trigger

theme. Trigger themes represent repeated messages or pointers which, if recognized,

may assist the organisation in implementing activities to anticipate a crisis, and exploit its

benefit or reduce the negative impact of such an occurrence (Barton, 1993; Fearn-Banks,

1996; Mitroff, 1996).

Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt (1996) in their investigation of Mitroff (1996) and

Barton’s (1993) crisis management studies also used the term ‘trigger’ in their discussion

of ‘crisis killing’. They affirmed that if an organisation resolved the ‘trigger themes’

before they progress, crises could be avoided (Gonzalez-Herrero & Pratt, 1996).

Shrivastava (1993) used the term ‘trigger’ in his discussion relating to ‘causes’ of crises,

explaining that causes “include the immediate failures that triggered the crisis, and the

antecedent conditions that allow failures to occur” (p.30). Sturges (1994) used the term

‘triggering event’ in his discussions of the precursors to the crisis and how these

precursors could progress to crises. Pearson and Clair (1998) define the ‘triggering

event’ as the factor that causes the crisis to progress from the Prodromal Crisis to Acute

Crisis stage in Fink’s (1986) model. Egelhoff (1992) in his development of a


contingency model for managing a variety of corporate crises claims “…‘triggering

events’ typically occur within the environment with which the organisation is familiar

and coverage of which often appears in mass media” (p. 467). Pinsdorf (1987) cited poor

crisis public relations as a ‘trigger’ claiming that it will result in an organisation’s publics

loss of confidence in the organisation’s credibility and competence.

The number of trigger themes in mass media content varies at any given time. This

group or pool of trigger themes provides the foundation for mass media content during

the three final stages of Fink’s (1986) model. The selection of a specific trigger theme is

however, directly related to the crisis. Once the theme is selected its progress through the

life cycle is directly related to the crisis and how it progresses.

Shrivastava’s (1993) initial concept of a ‘trigger’ that was developed by Sturges

(1994) and Pearson and Clair (1998) is used for this study. A ‘trigger theme’ defines

coverage of Prodromes appearing as mass media content. Pearson and Clair (1998) assert

that when organisations choose not to respond to trigger themes, rumours may fill the

void. Mass media can increase the impact the crises have on organisations (Susskind &

Field, 1996; Turner, 1976; Weick, 1988). The trigger themes appear as symptoms or

precursors to crises in mass media content and are the vital first factor in tracking mass

media content during the four stages of Fink’s (1986) model.

Indicator

The quantity of individual of trigger themes in mass media content will decrease in

frequency over the time of crisis.

Mass media content in the Prodromal Crisis stage consists of a pool of trigger


themes. Each theme has the potential to progress to a crisis. Therefore, during the

Prodromal Crisis stage in Fink’s (1986) model, mass media content will contain a pool of

trigger themes. Each trigger theme will provide a brief synopsis or initial coverage of a

specific Prodrome and act as the foundation for further mass media content. Each

Prodrome has the potential to escalate into a crisis and the associated trigger theme has

the potential to mirror the behaviour of the Prodrome. This implies that the level of mass

media content related to a specific trigger theme is directly linked to the progression of

the Prodrome through Fink’s (1986) model. Once in existence, trigger themes may

remain latent in the theme pool for extended time periods, before selection and moving

from the theme pool into prominence in the Acute Crisis Stage.

Hence during the initial or Prodromal Crisis Stage, mass media content contains a

pool of trigger themes, each presenting a brief discussion on active Prodromes. The level

of analysis and detail of each trigger theme is low. It is predicted that mass media

content of the pool of trigger themes will appear as minor news stories. Trigger themes

do not receive in-depth analysis or exhaustive scrutiny by mass media during the

Prodromal Crisis stage in Fink’s (1986) model.

Acute Crisis

Proposition Two

In the Acute Crisis Stage, mass media content isolates one trigger theme from the

pool of themes. This selected theme serves as the principle explanation of the crisis.

The second or Acute Crisis Stage is defined as the shortest and most intense stage

of the crisis (Fink, 1986). Sturges (1994) defines the second stage as the ‘crisis

breakout’. Mitroff (1996) identified this stage as the ‘probing and prevention’ stage,


when the organisation recognized the risk factors of the crisis and undertook activities to

reduce its effect. Fearn-Banks (1996) drew on Barton’s (1993) definition of the second

stage of Crisis Life Cycle as that of ‘prevention/preparation’.

During this stage the Prodrome evolves into the ‘actual’ crisis. While Fink (1986)

and others argue that crisis commences prior to this stage, during this period, the

Prodrome is the catalyst got the crisis to occur. The result of fiscal, physical or emotional

damage to the organisation and its publics is typically reported in mass media. The

trigger theme associated with the specific Prodrome is the focus of mass media content.

Mass media seeks to explore the selected trigger theme undertaking exhaustive analysis

of the events connected with the crisis. In the Acute Stage of Fink’s (1986) model, the

selected trigger theme will experience an increased mass media focus and mass media

content will provide an explanation of the crisis.

The trigger theme evolves in line with the crisis and during the Acute Stage, the

theme of mass media content is one of explanation of the event or catalyst for the crisis.


Indicator

Mass media content related to a selected explanatory theme will reach highest

frequency in the Acute Crisis Stage.

Mass media content evolves from the brief and initial reports in the Prodromal

Crisis Stage to extensive discussions on the actual events of the crisis and the issues

related to its occurrence. The expectation is that mass media content will present

extensive details of the selected trigger theme in chronological order. This coverage

often contains descriptions of the impact the trigger theme has had on relevant publics.

During this stage, mass media seek information from the organisation relating to the

crisis and endeavour to explore the reasons for the resulting event. Mass media content

consists of descriptive coverage providing detailed discussions of the crisis and how it

occurred. During this stage, the number of articles pertaining to the selected theme will

reach the highest level. This level of coverage will match the intensity of the stage of the

actual crisis in terms of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.

Chronic Crisis

Proposition Three

In the Chronic Crisis Stage, mass media content focuses on assigning responsibility

and blame for the selected trigger theme.

Fink (1986) defines the Chronic Crisis stage or post-mortem stage as the stage

where the organisation undertakes an audit of the events, activities and mass media

content of the crisis. Fink (1986) selected the term chronic as the effects of crisis can be

experienced by organisations for years. Barton (1993) referred to this stage as

‘containment’ while Mitroff (1996) expanded the term to ‘damage containment’.

During this stage criminal and civil charges, government inquiries, litigation and


responses from affected publics are all activities that ensure the continuation of mass

media content thereby prolonging the effects the crisis has on an organisation. Often the

crisis is revisited by mass media during legal proceedings, raising publics’ awareness of

the trigger theme and revisiting the chronological discussions that mass media have

already presented. The activities previously mentioned regularly enable latent trigger

themes to become prominent during this stage. Mass media select to explore the reasons

for the crisis and mass media content evolves to explore the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the

crisis.

Indicator

Themes of blame and responsibility in mass media content will reach the highest

frequency in the Chronic Crisis Stage.

During the Chronic Crisis Stage, mass media seek to assign responsibility and

blame to those individuals and/or organisations responsible for the crisis occurring. This

is the lingering stage of the crisis with periods of investigation, in-depth media reports

and as extensive analysis of the crisis occurs in mass media content.

It is predicted that mass media content will consist of themes of blame and

responsibility. Mass media identify how the event occurred and who or what is

responsible for its occurrence. Themes of blame and responsibility will reach the highest

level during this stage of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.

Crisis Resolution

Proposition Four

In the Crisis Resolution Stage, mass media content focuses on themes of resolution

or the trigger theme moves to latent status.


In the fourth and final stage mass media seeks to resolve the issues that created the

crisis and present the reasons the events occurred as a result of the crisis. Fink (1986)

was the first to present crises as extended occurrences, focusing not only on the ‘Acute’

phase of the crisis. Barton (1993) and Mitroff (1996) divided this final stage into two

stages, ‘resolution and learning’. This division was supported by Fearn-Banks (1996).

This final termination stage is defined by the resolution of the issue or event which

created the crisis initially. During this stage the crisis no longer has an effect on the

organisation’s operational activities or on its publics (Fearn-Banks, 1996; Fink, 1986;

Mitroff, 1996).

Indicator

Trigger themes emphasizing crisis resolution will reach highest frequency in the

Crisis Resolution Stage.

In this stage mass media content seeks to resolve the trigger theme and summarize

how the crisis occurred, who and/or what was to blame and responsible for the crisis and

what can be drawn from the events as implications for the future.

Indicator

If the theme moves to latent status, then the theme will have little or no

representation in mass media content.

If mass media are unable to resolve the trigger theme, then the theme moves to

latent status and remains there until such times as an event could reactive the trigger

theme and bring it back into prominence. It is in the interest of public relations

professionals that trigger themes are resolved and not allowed to move to the latent stage

as the potential for a new cycle of damage to the organisation remains.


Crises do not occur in isolation, they occur as one component of the organisational

environment, while other Prodromes and trigger themes progress through parallel Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycles.

Figure Four illustrates the flow chart of trigger theme development during the life

cycle of the crisis. After the initial selection the trigger theme moves from the theme

pool and commences the cycle of changing theme attributes of explanation, blame and

responsibility and resolution. Those trigger themes which are not resolved move back

into the pool of trigger themes.


Figure Caption

Figure 4 Flow Chart of mass media content’s trigger theme movement during the four

stages of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.



CONCLUSION

The four propositions to be used in the exploration of the case study in the

following chapter have been defined and discussed. Each proposition has been

developed from the review of the crisis literature presented in Chapter Two. The

indicators discussed will be utilized in measuring these four propositions with the case

study. The theoretical discussion of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model has provided

the foundation for the four propositions and the extension of Fink’s model.

King, Keohane and Verba (1994) assert that the most important way to contribute to

theory is to “show that theories or evidence designed for some purpose in one literature

could be applied in another literature to solve an existing but apparently unrelated

problem” (p. 17).

This study describes the relationship between the types of themes present in mass

media content and Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model. This extension of the model

and its relationship with broad themes present in mass media content during a crisis can

contribute to the development of crisis public relations theory.

This study suggests that Fink’s (1986) model should be part of the larger issues of

crisis public relations theory and its inclusion may lead to more effective and efficient

management of crises. The study builds a case for the need to consider the model in a

larger context. This extension of the model to include general themes present in mass

media content serves as the framework to evaluate the effectiveness of public relations

strategy during crises. Thereby, making an explicit contribution to current crisis public

relations literature.




(1986) model. The identification of these themes can allow for the construction of a

model that predicts broad thematic categories during the four stages of the Crisis Life

Cycle.

The development of the model should help enable practitioners to predict which

type of content will appear and when. This type of predication is not possible through the

main body of research, as it is descriptive in nature. A theoretically based model would

allow public relations practitioners to identify themes and facilitate the implementation of

a crisis public relations strategy in the Prodromal phase, thereby avoiding the Acute and

most damaging stage of the crisis.

In the following chapter the propositions will be used to describe mass media

content and explore the focal trigger theme over the life of the crisis selected for the case

study.


Chapter Four

This chapter examines case study methodology in the context of both qualitative

and quantitative research. The case study method will be defined and the value of case

study research and its applicability to the discipline of crisis public relations will be

discussed. Content analysis, a systematic approach to social research, is the scientific

means used in the collection and analysis of data for the study. The propositions

proposed in the previous chapter are utilized to describe mass media content during

Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle. An overview of Ansett Airlines is presented and a

detailed synopsis of the crisis explored. This chapter provides literary evidence

supporting the appropriateness of case study and content analysis methodology in

expanding the Crisis Life Cycle and exploring the changes in mass media content over

the life of a crisis.

Qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable

researchers to study social and cultural phenomena (Yin, 1993). Examples of qualitative

methods include: action research, case study research and ethnography. Qualitative data

can be gathered via observation and participant observation (fieldwork), interviews and

questionnaires, documents and texts, and the researcher’s impressions (Sarantakos,

1998). Central to qualitative research is gaining the emic, or insider’s perspective, that is,

the perspective of the participants within the research study. Patton (1990) asserts that

placing emphasis on understanding the emic perspective is not incompatible with


inclusion of the etic, or outsider perspective, and researchers must be aware of this

difference when undertaking qualitative research.

CASE STUDIES

The case study method is well established in the qualitative research tradition (Yin,

1993). The case study is a form of qualitative research that can use a variety of research

methodologies to contextually observe a specific situation or phenomenon (Yin, 1993).

Regardless of the researcher’s epistemology, case studies are an appropriate strategy for

answering the ‘how’ or ‘why’ research questions which do not require control over the

events (Yin, 1993). Case studies offer a flexible yet integrated framework for the holistic

examination of a phenomenon in its natural state. However, researchers must tolerate

ambiguity, be responsive to emerging data and refine the design of the study even as it is

underway (Marshall & Rossman, 1999). The case study method can accommodate

different epistemologies and can be applied to a wide range of disciplines, especially in

the social and behavioural sciences (Blaikie, 2000). Yin (1993) recognizes significant

value in the ability of case studies to suggest a range of possibilities for a future which

cannot be assumed to be a projection of the past. The design of a case study can be

customized to address a wide range of research questions and types of cases and to

incorporate a variety of data collection, analysis, and reporting techniques (Yin, 1993).

Because case study is exceptionally useful for descriptive research, theory generation,

and examination of atypical phenomena, it is particularly appropriate for applied research

related to contemporary issues of people in the real world such as crisis public relations

(Marra, 1992). There is a growing trend to no longer consider the case study method

exclusively in a qualitative context. The trend is to utilise case study as an adaptive


research structure that can accommodate qualitative and quantitative perspectives,

techniques and standards (Yin, 1993).

Sarantakos (1998) citing Kromrey (1986) explained that case study research

involves studying individual cases, often in their natural environment for an extended

period of time, and further various methods of data collection and analysis can be

employed. Yin (1993) defines case study as “a method of choice when the phenomenon

under study is not readily distinguishable from its context” (p. 3).

Yin (1993) constructed the case study model from the positivist perspective. Yin’s

(1993) design replicates features from natural science on the premise that the more

measurable and objective the criteria, the greater the confidence in the results. This

requirement of qualitative study for the rigor of design and methodology provides

reliability and validity (Sarantakos, 1998). Yin (1993) stipulates that a case study must

have the capacity to deal with a diversity of evidence, the ability to articulate research

questions and theoretical propositions, and requires production of a research design.

Eisenhardt (1989) provides a more comprehensive definition of case study

methodology.

Case study is a research strategy which focuses on understanding the

dynamics present within single settings…case studies typically combine data

collection methods such as archives, interviews, questionnaires, and observations.

The evidence may be qualitative (e.g. words), quantitative (e.g. numbers), or

both….case studies can be used to accomplish various aims: to provide

description…test theory…or generate theory (p. 534-535).


Yin (1993) cautions that descriptive case studies should not be used simply to

describe everything. He claims that researchers have a responsibility to be selective in

order to focus on answering the purpose of the study, including the full but realistic range

of topics considered to provide a complete description of the phenomena being explored

(Yin, 1993).

Case studies are often referred to as a method of data collection. For the purposes

of this study, the definition of ‘case study’ provided by Yin (1993) is employed.

Sarantakos (1998) asserts that for many researchers case studies are a research model or

design that deals with all aspects of research. Yin (1993) argued that this form of

investigation exhibited the following unique characteristics:

It studies whole units in their totality and not aspects or variables of

these units; it employs several methods of data collection or multiple analysts to

avoid or prevent errors and distortions; it often studies a single unit: one unit is

one study; it perceives the respondent as an expert not just as a source of data;

and it studies a typical case (p. 160).

Yin (1993) also claimed that case studies differ from other research methodologies

in various ways.

An experiment, for instance, deliberately divorces a phenomenon from its

context, so that attention can be focused on a few variables (typically, the context

is ‘controlled’ by the laboratory experiment). A history, by comparison, does not

deal with the entangled situation between phenomenon and context, but usually

with non-contemporary events. Finally, surveys can try to deal with the


phenomenon and context, but their ability to investigate the context is extremely

limited (p. 163)

Triangulation is used to produce more reliable and valid results for the study this

includes the use of multiple data-collection methods, sources, analysis, or theories to

check validity. Snow and Anderson (cited by Feagin, Orum, and Sjoberg, 1991) assert

that triangulation can occur with data, investigators, theories, and even methodologies.

Stake (1994) argues triangulation is the protocol to ensure accuracy and alternative

explanations. The need for triangulation arises from the ethical need to confirm the

validity of the processes. In case studies, this can be achieved in using multiple sources of

data or multiple analysis of data (Yin, 1993).

To ensure the validity of the study and further strengthen its validity through

triangulation, the data were collected from various sources. This collection process is

supported by Yin (1993) who argues that in case studies, triangulation can be achieved in

using multiple sources of data for this case study, data was collected from four different

newspapers over a six month period.

The epistemological orientation of this study is positivist. The premise of positivist

studies is generally in an attempt to test theory to increase the predictive understanding of

phenomena. Yin (1993) purports that knowledge gained through scientific and

experimental research is objective and measurable. This research has sought to describe

Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and mass media content. Yin (1993) considers this

the most pure hypothesis or theory-building form of case study methodology. The

purpose of this study is descriptive; the study has constructed and organized data, relating

these results to other research findings and themes that identify the salient features of the


case. Description has recreated the mass media content with as much of its context as

possible, as well as the meanings and intentions in the phenomena’s life cycle (Blaikie,

2000).

ANSETT AIRLINES

In order to provide a context to the 767-200 goundings Easter period crisis

experienced by Ansett Airlines in April 2001, an environmental analysis and

organisational assessment of Ansett Airlines has been undertaken. In 2001 Ansett

Airlines was a well established domestic carrier in the Australian air travel market and

considered one of Australia’s most prominent and trusted brands (Ligerakis, 2001).

Ansett’s logo, was seen by passengers to be synonymous with reliability, safety,

engineering excellence and customer service (Ansett, 2001). Underpinning this

reputation, Ansett had won various awards for safety and service standards (Ansett,

2001).

On the domestic routes within Australia, Ansett offered two classes of travel;

Business and Economy. On average eight percent of the total seating allocation is

allocated to Business Class with the remainder of the seats were in the category of

Economy Class (Ansett, 2001). To encourage ongoing customer patronage and compete

with rival competition loyalty programs, Ansett operated two loyalty programs; the

Frequent Flyer Program and the Golden Wing Club.

Ansett’s Frequent Flyer Program had close to two million members, this was the

second largest Australia-based airline loyalty program. The program enabled members to

accumulate points through flying with Ansett or its 20 Frequent Flyer international and


domestic airline partners. Points were awarded according to the class of travel and

kilometres flown. In addition members could accumulate point through qualifying

transactions with various nominated companies (Ansett, 2001).

Golden Wing Club provided members with access to a network of Golden Wing

Club and associated lounges in Australia and around the world. The lounges provided a

quality environment for passengers to relax or do business before flying. Access to the

lounges was by subscription, on an annual or life basis. Access to the lounges was

provided to Golden Wing Club members and Gold Frequent Flyers in the domestic

network (Ansett, 2001).

History

Sir Reginald Myles Ansett founded Ansett Australia in 1935 as Ansett Airways. It

made its first passenger flight on 17th February 1936 from Hamilton in Western Victoria

to Melbourne. In February of the following year the company was incorporated as Ansett

Airlines. In May 1946 Ansett Airways became Ansett Transport Industries. A decade

later Ansett bought Australian National Airways and by 1958 its fleet had grown to over

40 aircraft (Ansett, 2001).

In October 1964, Ansett introduced the first jet airliner, the Boeing 727, to

Australian service. By 1969, Ansett had achieved the status of Australia's largest

domestic airline. In 1979 control of ANA passed into the hands of TNT and News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch became CEO in December; and in 1980 a totally separate company,

Ansett Air Freight, was formed. In 1996, Ansett's major shareholder (News Corporation)

became sole owner of Ansett New Zealand and during 1998 Ansett Australia, Ansett

International, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines joined in an alliance which was


the largest in the Asia-Pacific area. News Corporation began divesting itself of aviation

interests in 2000. Ansett Australia became wholly owned by Air New Zealand as part of

the Air New Zealand - Ansett Group. Ansett International, in 2001, was 49 percent

owned by Air New Zealand and 51 percent by other shareholders (Ansett, 2001).

In January 2001, Ansett’s fleet consisted of 67 aircraft, including 24 Boeing 737-

300s, 20 Airbus A320-200s and 10 Boeing 767-200 aircraft. Ansett operated the regional

airlines of Kendall Airlines, Aeropelican, Hazelton Airlines and Skywest Airlines, which

together comprised a fleet of 53 aircraft, including 11 CRJ-200 jet aircraft (Ansett, 2001).

Due to a series of events including the crisis explored in this study, Ansett Australia

was placed into voluntary administration and all operations of the group ceased on

September 14, 2001. Administrators were appointed and they sought to sell the airline as

a going concern. Ansett continued to operate under a Federal Government guarantee

until on February 28, 2002, when the Administrators of Ansett Australia announced that

the sale of the Ansett mainline business to the Fox/Lew Syndicate (‘Tesna’) would not

proceed. This resulted in the suspension of all flights as from midnight Monday 4 th of

March 2002 and the airline ceased operations on that date.

Ansett Airlines 2001

By March 2001 Ansett had used various initiatives to position itself as ‘Australia’s

leading airline’ (Ligerakis, 2001). There was fierce competition in the domestic aviation

market with four major domestic airline carriers operating in Australia: Qantas, Ansett,

Impulse and Virgin Blue. Ansett enjoyed a strong reputation and positive image within

the Australian market. Ansett was announced as the Winner of Best Airline for

International Business Class Travel in 1999, and won its fifth consecutive Airline of the


Year Award in 1998 (Staralliance, 2001). Ansett also established extremely high levels

of customer loyalty through its frequent flyer programs, the Golden Wing Club and by

securing lucrative corporate contracts.

Ansett Airlines had a number of significant and potentially damaging weaknesses.

Ansett had the oldest fleet of all Australian carriers. Virgin Blue had a fleet less than five

years old, the Qantas fleet was 10 years old and the Ansett fleet is almost 12. The age of

the Ansett fleet had given rise to safety concerns in December 2000, and mass media

content related to the focal theme of safety appeared in print from December 2000

onwards. Ansett was has also hindered by negative media coverage regarding ownership

issues and the previous grounding crisis that occurred in December 2000. Uncertainty

over ownership and subsequent internal structural difficulties were exacerbated by the

purchase of Ansett by Air New Zealand in 2000 (Westfield, 2001). Ensuing questionable

corporate governance standards and foreign ownership issues further weakened the

airline’s position in the market (Coggeshall, 2001).

It has been argued that markets are moving from an economic system in which

national markets are distinct entities, isolated from each other by trade barriers, distance,

time and culture, towards a system in which national markets are merging into the global

marketplace (Johnson & Scholes, 1989). The international pressure of the globalised

economy led to the deregulation and privatisation of the Australian airline industry in

1990. Globalisation created pressure for Ansett from international competitors in its

'secure' home market. In 2001, carriers where allowed to determine routes and fares

(Ansett, 2001). Deregulation was a government response to the evidence of inefficiency


and high prices within this protected industry and was intended to increase competition

and improve consumer welfare (Johnson & Scholes, 1989).

Deregulation supported a series of competitive fare wars and customer incentive

strategies designed to enlarge market share and increase customer loyalty within the

Australian market. To remain profitable, Ansett developed generic competition strategies

to differentiate the airline. The decision to transfer airlines into private sector operations

pressured airlines to compete in an arena where success is measured by profit, efficiency

and shareholder dividends. Several groups claimed that safety and the ethical and socially

responsible corporate governance were then being neglected in this profit driven industry

(Westfield, 2001).

Profitability has become a significant problem inherent within the global airline

industry. Although the industry is worth $355 billion in the United States of America

alone, high fixed costs and fuel prices ensure that profit margins remain low. The

profitability issue was exacerbated in 1991, when unprecedented losses were recorded by

airlines across the globe. High levels of customer dissatisfaction led to a decrease in

international passengers for the first time and significant excess capacity of aircraft, from

the boom of the late 1980s, led to losses of $20.4 billion being recorded by member

airlines of the International Air Transport Association. This figure exceeded industry

profits over the previous 67 years (Ansett, 2001). Airlines recognised the need for radical

change to ensure their survival and prosperity. During a time of renewed economic

growth, organisational strategies such as aggressive cost cutting returned the industry as a

whole to profitability (BritishAirways, 2001). Ansett continued to function with high

operating costs although the strategic alliance of Star Alliance provided the airline with


improved efficiency through cost savings associated with economies of scale in terms of

terminals, planes and crew.

The Australian domestic airline industry operates where competition is a primary

force or threat within the industry. With the introduction of deregulation and

privatisation, the main barrier to entry to the Australian airline industry is the high

establishment costs for start up operations. Qantas and Ansett enjoyed this competitive

advantage for ten years. Despite no longer being a protected market, the Australian

airline industry remained essentially duopolistic, with the dominant players enjoying the

majority of industry profits.

The emergence of Virgin Blue, in August 2000, increased competition within the

domestic market and decreased profitability for Ansett and Qantas. Despite being

deregulated for over a decade, industry incumbents Ansett and Qantas established strong

brand names and strong profits during the 1980s and 1990s. Entry in the market was

difficult with the established duopoly engaging in predatory pricing and controlling

terminal space throughout Australia, thereby inhibiting the activities of smaller airlines.

In August 2000, Virgin Blue engaged in an aggressive price-cutting strategy in an attempt

to capture market share, to establish customer loyalty and brand themselves as low-cost

carriers. This campaign was successful. In March 2000, Ansett was struggling to

maintain its position in the domestic market. Ansett's domestic market share had shrunk

from 56 percent in 1995 to about 43 percent as a result of rising competition from Qantas,

Virgin Blue and Impulse Airlines (Coggeshall, 2001).

On Thursday, April 12 th 2001, Ansett Australia’s fleet of ten 767 aircraft were

grounded indefinitely by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)(Gibson, 2001).


Further CASA stated that they would issue Ansett with a notice giving the airline 14 days

to ‘Show Cause’ as to why its approval to operate should not be withdrawn on April 20 th,

2001. CASA based the notice on a “pattern of ongoing structural, management and

personnel problems” (Toller, 2001, p. 1). The fleet was grounded after engine cracks

were discovered in the engine mounts of three planes and another plane was found to

have improperly stowed emergency slides and had flown eight times before the safety

breach was discovered (Toller, 2001). CASA believed that there had been a clear lack of

proper control over the planning of maintenance, the control of critical documents and the

execution of maintenance. Director of Aviation Safety Mick Toller stated that “CASA

could no longer accept Ansett’s assurances that the safety of 767-200’s could be

maintained” (Toller, 2001, p. 1). The 767 aircraft comprised about 20 percent of the

carrier’s total capacity. The groundings occurred one day prior to the start of Easter

holiday season, a peak time for air travel. Ansett claimed that 95 percent of the 132,000

holiday passengers travelling from April 12 th to April 15 th were flown on Ansett and Air

New Zealand with the longest delays experienced by travellers being under one hour

(Creedy, Haslem, & Milligan, 2001).

Ansett CEO, Gary Toomey, responded to the news by announcing that while the

groundings were a “setback…. it was consistent with the need for us to just relaunch the

whole airline” (Ligerakis, 2001, p. 1). Ansett had been in the process of restructuring the

engineering management when CASA grounded the fleet. Once the new engineers were

in place and the regulator was satisfied, Toomey stated that they would be “madly

looking at trying to replace the fleet and then relaunch the airline”(Ligerakis, 2001, p. 1).

Ansett announced that the airline would comply with CASA demands, but disputed the


views about the quality of safety and maintenance. Toomey defended Ansett by stating

that the new management team, in place since 2000, had given priority to a

comprehensive review of engineering and maintenance practices, and asserted that Ansett

itself had reported the engine cracks and various other safety breaches to CASA. Further

Ansett had immediately grounded the unsafe aircraft without instruction to do so (Creedy

et al., 2001). On Friday, 20 April 2001, CASA announced that it would not issue a

formal ‘Show Cause Notice’ to Ansett following their acceptance of Ansett’s detailed

plans for improvements across its maintenance and operational areas (Toller, 2001). The

grounding caused major repercussions within the industry and to the security and

economic viability of Ansett, Air New Zealand shares fell by 13 percent (Westfield,

2001).

To determine the stages of the Crisis Life Cycle for the case study, time periods

were defined by the public information released by Ansett and CASA. This information

enabled the researcher to define the stages of the crisis in terms of Fink’s (1996) Crisis

Life Cycle model. The Prodromal Crisis stage commenced on January 1 st, 2001 and

continued until Monday April 9 th, 2001 when CASA notified Ansett that the 767-200

fleet was grounded. This decision by CASA was the triggering event to cause the crisis

to move to the next stage in the Crisis Life Cycle. The Acute Crisis stage commenced on

Tuesday April 10 th, 2001 and intensified on Thursday, April 12 th as travellers

commenced their travel for the Easter break, the Acute Crisis stage continued until Friday

April 20, 2001. During this period the entire Ansett Airlines 767-200 fleet was grounded.

CASA threaten to issue the company with a ‘Show Cause’ notice to suspend Ansett’s

operating licence due to safety breaches; CASA revoked the threat on April 20 th, 2001


and allowed cleared aircraft to recommence operations. From Saturday, April 21 st, 2001

onwards, Ansett operated in the Chronic Crisis stage until June 30 th, 2001 when the case

study time period concluded. While the immediate issue regarding safety breaches was

resolved on April 20 th, 2001, Ansett’s undertaking to purchase new aircraft and hire new

maintenance staff to meet CASA’s requirements regarding aircraft safety did not occur

during the time period of the case study.

The 767-200’s groundings crisis created an enormous amount of publicity in the

Australian mass media, and the negative exposure created the worst public relations crisis

that Ansett had ever confronted (Ligerakis, 2001). Ansett’s response to the crisis was an

incoherent array of announcements developed in an ad hoc fashion. The centrepiece of

their communication strategy was a relaunch of the airline brand through a hastily

prepared, glossy, mass media campaign (Ansett, 2001). The campaign was titled

‘Absolutely’ and featured a vast array of Australian celebrities, sporting personalities and

famous corporate identities (Ansett, 2001). The communication strategy that emerged

was ineffective in dealing with the crisis. Ansett needed a cohesive, strategic and

comprehensive approach act in a proactive manner to better manage the crisis and attain a

positive outcome from a negative situation.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Content Analysis

Content analysis is a product of the electronic age. While content analysis was

regularly performed in the 1940’s. It became a more credible and a more frequently used

research method in the mid-1950’s, when researchers focused on concepts rather than

simply words, and on semantic relationships rather than just presence (Stempel &


Westley, 1989). While content analysis developed from use in simple journalistic

research, it has evolved in a versatile, widely used methodology in various fields of

research. Content analysis can be used in research where other methods are generally

insensitive or intrusive (Amoroso & Eriksson, 2000). Woodward (1934) described the

impact of newspaper communication on public opinion. Woodward’s research was based

on Lippman’s (1922) work on public opinion and his analysis of communication in its

various forms. In business research such as organizational behaviour and marketing,

content analysis has been extensively used to investigate written and media

advertisements, corporate communication networks, and mass media effects on public

opinion (Amoroso & Eriksson, 2000).

Krippendorff (1980) defines content analysis as a “systematic, replicable technique

for compressing words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of

coding” (p.52). Berelson (1952) defined content analysis as “a research technique for the

objective, systematic, and quantitative description of manifest content of

communications” (p. 74). As a research tool, content analysis focuses on the actual

content and internal features of media. It can determine the presence of certain words,

concepts, themes, phrases, characters, or sentences within texts or sets of texts and

quantifies this presence in an objective manner. Sarantakos (1998) defines texts as books,

book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper headlines and articles,

historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising, theatre, informal

conversation, or really any occurrence of communicative language. The result of content

analysis is used to formulate inferences about the messages within the text(s), the

writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part.


Content analysis can be applied to examine any piece of writing or occurrence of

recorded communication. Due to this versatility, content analysis is used in a wide range

of disciplines, ranging from marketing and media studies, to literature and rhetoric,

ethnography and cultural studies, gender and age issues, sociology and political science,

psychology and cognitive science, as well as other fields of inquiry. Berelson (1952) and

Weber (1990) assert content analysis can be used to: (a) reveal international differences

in communication content, (b) compare media or ‘levels’ of communication, (c) audit

communication content against objectives, (d) detect the existence of propaganda, (e)

identify the intentions, focus or communication trends of an individual, group or

institution, (f) code open-ended questions in surveys, (g) describe attitudinal and

behavioural responses to communications, and (h) determine psychological or emotional

state of persons or groups.

Eckhardt and Ermann (1977) recommend the qualitative technique of content

analysis to investigate the subjective nature of the data exploring attitudes, motives, and

values. Sarantakos (1998) claims the quantitative technique explores the thematic

changes in communication allowing researchers to draw inferences about individual or

group values, intentions and ideologies which are expressed in the content of

communication and the effects the communication has on an audience. Therefore both

techniques allow the researcher to study the content of documents.

Types of Content Analysis

There are two general categories of content analysis: conceptual analysis and

relational analysis. Conceptual analysis establishes the existence and frequency of

concepts in a text. Relational analysis builds on conceptual analysis by examining the


relationships among concepts within a text. Sarantakos (1998) contends that as content

analysis explores the ‘content’ of documents that the two categories are manifest or latent

content and asserts that manifest content defines the actual text of the document, the

printed word.

Traditionally, content analysis has most often been thought of in terms of

conceptual analysis. In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination and the

number of its occurrences within the text recorded. Because terms may be implicit as

well as explicit, it is important to clearly define implicit terms before beginning the

counting process. To limit the subjectivity in the definitions of concepts, specialized

dictionaries are often used. As with most other research methods, conceptual analysis

begins with identifying research questions and choosing a sample or samples. Once the

text is selected it is coded into manageable ‘chunks’ or content categories. The process of

coding is the selective reduction of content based on the central concept of content

analysis. By reducing the contents of material into meaningful and pertinent units of

information, certain characteristics of the message may be analysed and interpreted

(Stemler, 2001).

Sarantakos (1998) defines latent content as the exploration of the meanings of

words, phrases and sentences. Relational analysis or latent content exploration builds on

conceptual analysis by examining the relationships among concepts within a text. The

initial choice of what is to be studied and/or coded determines the possibilities of that

particular study. Relational analysis requires selection of concept type before any analysis

is attempted. Studies have been conducted with as few as one and as many as 500

concept categories. Sarantakos (1998) cautions researchers that too many categories may


obscure the results and too few can lead to unreliable and potentially invalid conclusions.

Due to the number of techniques of relational analysis available this form of analysis is

gaining in popularity. Researchers have the opportunity to devise procedures according to

the nature of study. Once a procedure is rigorously tested, it can be applied and compared

across populations over time. The process of relational analysis has achieved a high

degree of computer automation but still is, like most forms of research, time consuming.

The strongest claim made for relational analysis is the maintenance of a high degree of

statistical rigor without losing the richness of detail apparent in even more qualitative

methods (Stemler, 2001).

Krippendorff (1980) recommends that researchers address six questions before

undertaking content analysis: (a) which data is analyzed? (b) how is the data defined? (c)

what is the population from which the data is drawn? (e) what is the context relative to

which the data is analyzed? (f) what are the boundaries of the analysis? (g) what is the

target of the inferences?

Due to its reliance on coding and categorizing of data, the content analysis method

enables the researcher to present rich and meaningful results. Prior to coding data, the

researcher devises categories of analysis that Weber (1990) explains as “a group of words

with similar meaning or connotations” (p. 37). In devising categories, four requirements

must be met as each category developed must be exhaustive, exclusive, drawn from a

single classification and reflect the purposes of the study. Ferguson (2000) who states

that the categories devised must meet the requirements of the research question posed for

the study. Wimmer and Dominick (1997) recommend the use of ‘common sense’ in the

development of categories to ensure that the categories are not so broad as to encompass


too much data and fail to respond to critical issues of the study or be too narrow and limit

interpretation of the data collated. Sarantakos (1998) asserts that “categories must be

mutually exclusive and exhaustive” (p. 282). In being mutually exclusive, the categories

defined will ensure that no unit falls between two data points, and each unit is represented

by only one data point. The requirement of exhaustive categories is met when the data

language represents all recording units without exception (Ferguson, 2000). Finally, each

category will be “derived from a single classification principle” (Ferguson, 2000). The

quality of results generated by content analysis is directly related to the quality of the

categories developed.

Once the categories have been established, researchers undertake the process of

coding or classifying the data in the content categories. There are four main methods

used to define a unit of content. Its physical border, such as a newspaper article that is so

many columns wide and number of words long, can define a unit. Second, the unit of

content can be defined syntactically, when words, sentences, or paragraphs, used by the

unit of contents’ author creates a separator. A third method is termed a referential unit,

this refers to the way a unit is represented. Stemler (2001) recommends the use of

referential units when drawing inferences about attitudes, values, or preferences. Finally a

unit of content can be defined by exploring the text in order to examine underlying

assumptions; this unit is termed a propositional unit. For example, in a sentence that

would read, “Investors took another hit as the stock market continued its descent”, this

would be analysed as “The stock market has been performing poorly recently/Investors

have been losing money” (Krippendorff, 1980).


In most content analysis researchers employ three sorts of units, these being:

sampling units, context units and recording units (Stemler, 2001). A sampling unit can

be words, sentences, or paragraphs. Typically, context units are not finite or mutually

exclusive but are defined by physical limits such as sentences, paragraphs or entire

documents. Recording units are the concepts or ideas within a document and are rarely

defined by physical boarders (Stemler, 2001).

Researchers can select from two types of coding, these being emergent and priori

coding. As the name suggests with emergent coding, categories are established following

some preliminary examination of the data. Independent researchers examine the data and

develop individual themes. These lists are then reconciled for differences. Finally, the

master list is created and used in the coding of data. Stemler (2001; 1998) recommends

that once the results from the individual researchers are completed, the results should be

tested using Cohen’s (1960) Kappa. Cohen’s Kappa approaches 1 as coding is perfectly

reliable and goes to 0 when there is no agreement other than what would be expected by

chance. If the level of reliability achieved is not acceptable, then the researchers must

repeat the process. Once the reliability has been established, the coding is applied on a

large-scale basis (Stemler & Bebell, 1998).

With priori coding, the categories are established prior to the analysis based upon

some theory, and the coding is applied to the data. Revisions are made as necessary, and

the categories are strengthened ensuring maximum mutual exclusivity and exhaustiveness

(Weber, 1990).

This study has explored the complex chain of themes (pattern) over time, tracking

one trigger theme during the four stages of the crisis life cycle model over a six-month


period, and has examined the causal relationship among independent, intervening, and

dependent variables.

Selltiz, Jahoda, Deutsch & Cook (1960) suggest the main reasons for using the

sampling method are:

1. “If the size of the population prevents complete coverage, then it is argued

that the survey population results can be achieved in a short time frame and

produce comparable and valid results.

2. It is more economical to select a sample due to costs of undertaking the data

collection.

3. It is also argued that samples offer a higher degree of accuracy in the

collection of data due to the smaller number of cases” (Selltiz, Jahoda,

Deutsch & Cook, 1960, p. 139).

Conversely sampling still requires administration, planning and programming and

has been found not be as valid (Selltiz, Wrightsman, & Cook, 1976).

Sample

The sample population defined should be representative and the selection of the

sample must be based on sound methodological principles. The use of probability

sampling provides the researcher with a high degree of reliability, degree of

representativeness and high generalisability of the results achieved (Keller, Warrack, &

Bartel, 1990). When determining sample size the researcher must specify how much

error is acceptable (Alreck & Settle, 1995; Roscoe, 1975; Weisberg & Bowen, 1977) and

the confidence level required (Alreck & Settle, 1995; Roscoe, 1975). A probability (or


significance) level of 0.05 has been established as a generally acceptable level of

confidence in most social science research (Sarantakos, 1998).

This study uses the methodology provided by Selltiz, Wrightsman and Cook (1976)

as a guide for representativeness. The units of analysis or cases were selected in a

systematic and objective manner, each case is easy to identify and clearly defined. The

units are independent of each other and uniform, appearing only once in the population.

No units have been discarded and the selection process that is outlined in further detail is

based on proven criteria.

Krejcie and Morgan (1970) offer a table to assist in determining sample size for a

representative sample using Cochran’s formula that incorporates the confidence and

precision criteria required. According to the table the sample size is representative of 269

news articles (the population), one refers to the table at N=269 and using the following

formula defines the representative sample size n=159. The table is applicable to any

population of a defined (finite) size.

Cochran’s Formula - Statistical Expression of the definition of sample size:

s = χ2 NP (1-P) + χ2 P(1-P)

d2(N-1)

Where s is the required sample size, χ2 is the table value of chi-square for 1 degree

of freedom (3.841), N is the population size, P is the population proportion and d is the

degree of accuracy (Cochran, 1977).

Krejcie and Morgan (1970) maintain that by using this calculation, as the

population increases, then the sample size increases at a diminishing rate to the point of

plateau and becomes constant at approximately 380 cases. They state that the added


expense and energy required to sample beyond about 380 cases is not necessary. Alreck

and Settle (1995) provide similar evidence.

According to Gay and Diehl (1992), the number of respondents acceptable for a

study depends upon the type of research involved - descriptive, correlational or

experimental. The limitation with this approach for estimating the sample size is that

while the procedure is statistically sound, it relates to estimations based on assumptions

and conditions. The formula calls for the values of p, Z and E to be estimated and these

values can be difficult (Sarantakos, 1998).

Many social researchers use probability sampling, this is due to the high level of

reliability, degree of representativeness and generalisability of results (Maxwell, 1996).

Probability sampling method is any method of sampling that utilizes some form of

random selection. In order to have a random selection method the process or procedure

employed ensures that each unit of analysis has equal probability of selection (Roscoe,

1975).

To ensure this randomness, a computer generator to produce random numbers can

be used in unit selection. Randomness and random numbers have traditionally been used

for a variety of purposes, for example games such as dice games (Keller et al., 1990).

Computers have assisted researchers in the generation of random numbers in the form of

pseudo-random number generators. These numbers are not truly random, rather the

numbers have been computed from a mathematical formula. Generally these programs

employ modern algorithms for number generation (Keller et al., 1990).

Random sampling has been employed for sample selection in this study. In this

instance each unit of analysis in the total population had an equal chance of being


selected. The sample meets the criterion of randomness (each element having an equal

chance at each draw) and that actual composition of the sample itself does not determine

whether or not it was a random sample (Keller et al., 1990).

For this study each news article had an equal opportunity of being selected. Each

news article was allocated a number, ranging from 1 to 269. A computer random number

generator was used to randomly select those units assigned to those numbers being

included in the sample. With a random sample, every unit in the population has equal

chance or probability of being selected for the sample. This probability is: p = 1/N,

where N = the size of the study population. All units had equal chance of being selected

for the sample, and sample size is statistically sound. This method of sampling is

considered to offer accurate results, having a high degree of representativeness

(Sarantakos, 1998).

Data Collection

To meet the four requirements Ferguson (2000) established each category is

exhaustive, exclusive, drawn from a single classification and reflective of the purposes of

the study. One of the essential requirements of content analysis is that when coding each

category must be mutually exclusive (Sarantakos, 1998). Due to the nature of the trigger

themes they can not be coded as exclusive using the same coding criteria as the themes of

explanation, blame and responsibility and resolution. Therefore the researcher has used

progressive contextual analysis which allows the trigger themes to be coded by article.

Once the pool of themes is identified, a single trigger theme is selected, and this theme

acts as the foundation for themes of explanation, responsibility and blame and resolution.


Mass media has undertaken an agenda gate keeping role in the provision of content

of the crisis. A function of gate keeping for mass media is to frame content in terms of

explanation themes which describe the cause and effect relationship between the theme

and content. In analysing the trigger theme at the article level, the selection of the focal

theme is possible and the researcher traces media framing related to the theme in the

collection of articles. To select the focal trigger theme a frequency count was

undertaken. The focal trigger theme forms the basis for how mass media frame Ansett

Safety in terms of explanation, responsibility and blame and resolution themes. The

methodology for choosing newspapers for this research was based on the criteria

designed to cover the various views of newspapers throughout Australia. Four

newspapers were chosen, The Australian, The Financial Review, The Age and The Sydney

Morning Herald.

The research material consists of a total of 269 newspapers articles. This number

refers to all newspaper articles in which the name ‘Ansett’ and ‘safety’ appeared during

the designated time period. These articles were collected from January 1 st, 2001 to June

30 th, 2001. The systematic gathering of the articles was confirmed as an exhaustive

collection using the electronic search engine Lexis® Nexis®.

The articles were used as units of analysis, and their titles, position and content

were examined. Each article has been classified according a defined set of criteria

presented in Appendix A. The focal trigger theme drawn from the pool of general themes

was ‘Ansett safety’, this trigger theme was selected after a frequency count of all Ansett

content in print mass media during the first six months of 2001. The researcher classified

the analysed units simultaneously in order to achieve interceding reliability. Following


the collection, examination, and classification of the articles, an electronic structured data

file was created containing the research material. The statistical editing, processing and

analysis of the data were done with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

(SPSS).

RESULTS

The findings of the research conducted are presented and analysis of the results is

undertaken has endeavoured to track patterns in mass media content in relation to the four

propositions proposed in Chapter Three, and to undertake analysis of the data in terms of

Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle Model. To determine the stages of the Crisis Life Cycle

for the case study, time periods were defined by the information collected Ansett and

CASA press releases and organisational web sites. This information enabled the

researcher to define the stages of the crisis in terms of Fink’s (1996) model. Prodromal

Crisis Stage commenced on January 1 st, 2001 and continued until Monday April 9 th, 2001

when CASA notified Ansett that the 767-200 fleet was grounded. This decision by

CASA was the triggering event which caused the crisis to move to the next stage in the

Crisis Life Cycle. The Acute Crisis Stage commenced on Tuesday April 10 th, 2001 and

intensified on Thursday, April 12 th as travellers commenced their travel for the Easter

break, the Acute Crisis stage continued until Friday April 20 th, 2001. During this period

the entire Ansett Airlines 767-200 fleet was grounded. The CASA threaten to issue the

company with a ‘Show Cause’ notice to suspend Ansett’s operating licence due to safety

breaches; CASA revoked the threat on April 20 th, 2001 and cleared the aircraft to

recommence operations. From Saturday, April 21 st, 2001, Ansett operated in the Chronic

Crisis Stage until June 30 th, 2001 when the case study time period concluded. While the


immediate issue regarding safety breaches was resolved on April 20, 2001, Ansett’s

undertaking to purchase new aircraft and hire new maintenance staff to meet CASA’s

requirements regarding aircraft safety did not occur during the time period of the case

study. Figure Five illustrates the frequency of trigger themes during the six month case

study.


Figure Caption

Figure 5 Frequency of trigger themes during the six moth case study, illustrating the high

frequency of the focal trigger theme during the most intense stage or Acute Crisis stage.


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

Date

Freq

uenc

y

Focal Trigger

Other Trigger


The articles from which the sample was drawn were collected from four

newspapers. The frequency of selection is as follows: The Australian, 43 percent; The

Financial Review, 16 percent; The Age 15 percent and The Sydney Morning Herald 26

percent.

With respect to the position of the articles, the number of articles in the first or news

section of the newspapers was significantly higher (75 percent) than any other section.

Articles also appeared in the Business and Finance (11 percent), Features (6 percent) as

well as the sections of Letters to Editor, Sport, and Company and Markets which account

for the remainder content with the selected trigger theme (8 percent).

All articles were selected by the appearance of the focal trigger theme, this being

safety. The focal trigger theme for the study is Ansett’s safety record regarding its 767-

200 fleet. This theme appeared on 105 occasions (67 percent). The other trigger themes

identified in the mass media content were: (a) Ansett Airlines purchase of Hazelton

Airlines, (b) Price war between the four domestic carriers, (c) Aircraft delays due to

service failures, (d) Poor financial stability for Ansett Airlines, (e) Singapore Airline’s

proposed purchase of Ansett, (f) Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigations, (g)

CASA Chief ability questioned, (h) Declining passenger numbers, (i) Qantas purchase of

Impulse Airline, and (j) The decline of the Ansett share price. These trigger themes

appeared on 54 occasions (33 percent) in print mass media content. The focal trigger

theme did not appear in mass media content during the month of March, 2001. The

trigger theme during this period was ‘Poor financial stability for Ansett Airlines’ and

‘Singapore Airline’s proposed purchase of Ansett’.


During the Prodromal Crisis stage, 11 trigger themes were identified, these themes

constitute the pool of trigger themes as proposed in the discussion of the trigger theme

pool presented in Chapter Three. Proposition One suggests that in the Prodromal Crisis

stage mass media content contains a pool of trigger themes that could constitute the

agenda for coverage of a crisis. The data from the case study identifies 11 different

trigger themes in the pool. Seven of the pool of trigger themes identified in mass media

content from the case study appeared during the months of January, February and March

2001, prior to the onset of the Acute Crisis stage for the selected trigger theme. During

the month of April, the focal trigger theme and two other themes ‘Civil Aviation Safety

Authority investigations’ and ‘CASA Chief’s ability questioned’ appeared in the sample

of mass media content analysed. During the months of May and June the focal trigger

theme continued to appear prominently. Two additional trigger themes relating to the

decline in Ansett’s share price and the decline in market share were also present in mass

media content during this two month period.

Fink (1986) asserts that a Prodrome typically appear as a small news story in mass

media. Data results indicate that 66 percent of all mass media content within the sample

which appeared in the Prodromal Crisis stage were of the average length of between 351

and 750 words long, while the remainder of the articles were either less than 350 or more

than 750 words in total.

In the Acute Stage of the Crisis, data indicates that mass media content containing

the initial trigger theme had evolved to extensive discussions on the actual events of the

crisis and the issues related its occurrence. During the Acute Crisis Stage pf the trigger

theme selected for the case study, mass media content presented an extensive explanation


content of the crisis detailing events as that occurred in a chronological order. While not

predicted, themes of blame and responsibility also appeared in mass media content during

the Acute Crisis Stage of the Crisis Life Cycle, with these themes accounting for 30

percent of the data during this period. However, themes of explanation account for 70

percent of mass media content during the Acute Crisis Stage of the Crisis Life Cycle.

In the Chronic Crisis Stage, themes of blame and responsibility accounted for 63

percent of the mass media content. Again, while not predicted explanation themes

continue to appear in mass media content during this period (32 percent). During this

stage of the Crisis Life Cycle events such as the Federal Government inquiry into the

groundings crisis, the launch of Ansett’s ‘Absolutely’ campaign, litigation and responses

from affected publics ensured the continuation of mass media content and prolonged the

impact of the crisis for Ansett.

While the immediate issue regarding safety breaches was resolved on April 20 th,

2001, Ansett’s undertaking to purchase new aircraft and hire new maintenance staff to

meet CASA’s requirements regarding aircraft safety did not occur. While the

undertaking did provide a possible resolution theme mass media content. The actual

proposed actions did not occur during the time period of the case study, and in fact never

occurred as the company was placed into liquidation. Figure Six illustrates the frequency

distribution of the data.


Figure Caption

Figure 6 Frequency of Explanation, Responsibility and Blame and Resolution over the

life of the crisis, utilising Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model to define the time scale

periods.


0

5

10

15

2025

30

35

40

45

Prodromal Acute Chronic Resolution

Cris is Life Cycle stages

Freq

uenc

yExplanation

Respons ibilityand Blame

Resolution


The analysis of the data collected for the crisis case study has been presented and

discussed. In exploring the data in terms of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and

utilising the extension of the model developed by the researcher in Chapter Three both

weaknesses and strengths of the extended model were identified. Two core themes

emerged from the data. First, a variety of trigger themes appear throughout the time

period of the case study. While other trigger themes were given prominence, in some

months the focal trigger theme appears in mass media content as a ‘tag phrase’ for other

trigger themes. Further, the trigger theme was not resolved, and as a result moved back

into the pool of trigger themes.

The implications for practice and recommended further research of the model are

provided in Chapter Five. Further the limitations and strengths of the research methods

used are also discussed.


Chapter Five

This chapter presents the discussion of the results discussed in Chapter Four and

drawing implications from the findings to better inform crisis public relations theory.

This initial exploration of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model in terms of mass media

content provides useful insights into the evolution of a specific trigger theme during the

life cycle of a crisis. The results presented in the previous chapter indicates that this

preliminary test of the extension of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model provides a

number of analytical issues and identifies limitations to the model. The issues and

limitations identified present areas for further research to provide a better expansion of

Fink’s (1986) model.

Researchers (Barton, 1993; Coombs, 1999; Marra, 1998; Mitroff et al., 1987) have

shown that how organisations select to manage a crisis will influence the length and

effect of the crisis. The literature reviewed indicates that effective crisis public relations

strategies can lessen the impact and time frame of a crisis, while poorly managed

situations can be magnified with an inappropriate crisis public relations strategy often

extending the Chronic Crisis Stage of the Crisis Life Cycle.

It is important to consider that crisis public relations is only one aspect of the

overall crisis management strategy implemented by an organisation (Fishman, 1999).

While some organisations recognise and embrace effective crisis public relations

strategies, other do not. How these differing levels of management translate into mass

media content of the crisis for an organisation has not been determined. Rather, this


initial explorative study has sought to discover how the extension of Fink’s (1986) model

can better inform crisis public relations.

Much of the crisis literature reviewed for this study was drawn from business and

management paradigms. These arenas fail to acknowledge the important contribution

crisis public relations can make to the crisis management process. However, as identified

by Marra (1998), Coombs (1999) and Heath (2001), effective crisis management is partly

the result of effective crisis public relations strategies. The conclusions reached in this

chapter do suggest that a better crisis public relations threory can be developed with the

use of the extension of Fink’s (1986) model in terms of mass media content.

DISCUSSION

Every crisis is different with a variety of variables which affect how the crisis

progresses through the four stages of Fink’s (1986) model. The crisis experienced by

Ansett in April 2001 had a lasting impact on the viability of the airline. The specific

crisis explored was framed in mass media content as a ‘technical’ crisis (Hallahan, 1999).

And while the Acute Crisis stage of the Crisis Life Cycle model was resolved in ten days,

the effects of the crisis during its Chronic Crisis stage were extensive and financially

debilitating for the organisation.

The manner in which Ansett chose to manage this particular crisis in terms of its

public relations function can be easily criticized, but it is important to note significant

qualifications. The actions taken by Ansett during the crisis resulted from multi-faceted

organisational processes, many of which the researcher is not privy to. Ansett’s public

relations manager, Heather Jefferies, confirmed that a reactive crisis public relations

strategy was implemented by the organisation (Jefferies, 2001). Further efforts to


manage mass media content during this process consisted of three press conferences and

12 press releases (Jefferies, 2001).

This study did not seek to explore the organisational influence on mass media

content during the Crisis Life Cycle, rather the research undertaken is an attempt to gain

greater insight into the changes in mass media content to provide better information to

allow an organisation to make crisis public relations decisions.

The results from the Ansett case study supported or partially supported the four

propositions represented in the extension of Fink’s (1986) model. Analysis of mass

media content for the case study revealed that much of the data did fit into the

predetermined four stages of the extended model. While an extensive search of

newsprint was undertaken and extensive data was collected, this study does not claim

conclusive causality between themes and mass media content or provide a complete

review of the case study.

The Ansett crisis situation was further complicated by its failure to manage and

resolve the focal trigger theme in December 2000. The groundings of Ansett’s 767-200

fleet, and its requirement for the organisation to implement major changes in order to

demonstrate its commitment to passenger safety would have resolved the trigger theme in

December, 2000. However due to other crises Ansett was facing; the focal trigger theme

was not resolved and reappeared in April 2001. This further supports the study’s claim

for resolution of trigger themes when they first appear.

Proposition One

In the Prodromal Crisis stage mass media content contains a pool of trigger themes

which could constitute the agenda for coverage of a crisis.


Fink’s (1986) Prodromal Crisis stage focuses on the warning signs that an

organisation can utilise to identify possible and potential threats to the organisation.

These threats are manifested in mass media content and appear as trigger themes during

the Prodromal stage. Seeger, Sellnow and Ulmer (2001) assert that organisations that

remain sensitive to their environment, monitor mass media content and explore relevant

trends in mass media coverage are positioned better to recognize crises.

Ansett unfortunately failed to heed the multiple and implicit warning signs of the

focal trigger themes during the Prodromal stage of the Crisis Life Cycle. Instead, the

organisation continued to ignore the Boeing maintenance bulletins and elected to

downsize its maintenance crew in an effort to reduce operating costs. Safety incidents

relating to the 767-200 fleet continued to occur. These incidents included: a failed safety

slide, wheel mount failures, engine cracks and other mechanical difficulties increasing

the mass media and publics’s awareness of Ansett’s aging 767-200 fleet. Ansett safety

became a focus of mass media coverage.

Fink (1986) contends that the Prodromal stage is the beginning or the ‘pre-crisis’

stage when management should be alert to possible warning signs or trigger themes that

appear in mass media content. The data provided indicates numerous trigger themes for

Ansett, yet Ansett management failed to act to address these trigger themes. Further,

CASA and Boeing’s acceptance of Ansett’s assurances regarding improved maintenance

schedules for the 767-200 fleet further exacerbated the impact of crisis when the trigger

theme of safety reappeared and progressed to the Acute Crisis stage on the Crisis Life

Cycle.


In January 2001 the pool of trigger themes consisted of seven different trigger

themes including the focal trigger theme of safety was selected for the study. During the

months of March and April another three trigger themes were identified and joined the

pool of trigger themes. In May an additional two trigger themes were identified from the

data. The results presented a limitation to Proposition One. The study did not explore

the nature of the pool of trigger themes in terms of how the number of trigger themes in

the pool would change over the time of a specific crisis. While the study acknowledges

that the behaviour of a trigger theme is directly linked to the Crisis Life Cycle it did not

address the change in the number of trigger themes in the pool over the life of the crisis.

Hence, these trigger theme developments should be incorporated in a further expanded

and refined Crisis Life Cycle model.

The data also revealed that the Indicator did not correctly address the length of mass

media content during this stage. The length of the articles during the Prodromal Crisis

Stage were longer than anticipated due to the nature of mass media content. It appears

that trigger themes can appear in mass media content as lengthy discussions during the

Prodromal Crisis Stage, as well as the proposed succinct short mass media content items.

Proposition Two

In the Acute Crisis stage, mass media content isolates one trigger theme from the

pool of themes. This selected theme serves as the principal explanation of the crisis.

The selected focal trigger theme acts as the primary vehicle by which publics gain

an understanding of the crisis. The second stage in Fink’s (1986) model is the Acute

Crisis or the impact stage. In Ansett’s case it refers to CASA’s grounding of the 767-200

fleet two days prior to the Easter break. The travel plans of more than 170,000 people


were affected by CASA’s decision and Ansett’s failure to improve safety program and

improve maintain its fleet (Wainwright, 2001).

This is often the shortest but most damaging stage of the crisis as one of the trigger

themes is selected from the pool of themes and moves into prominence in mass media

content. The resulting physical, fiscal, and emotional damage to an organisation and its

relevant publics can be significant. Mass media content during this stage of Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle contained themes of explanation where mass media content

presents an explanation of the crisis in a chronological order of events and actions.

Proposition Two requires that during this stage the frequency of explanation themes

will be highest. During this stage mass media content of Ansett explored and discussed

in detail the events leading to CASA’s decision to the grounding of Ansett’s 767-200

fleet. Mass media content included detailed discussions of Ansett’s safety record and the

events of December 2000 regarding the 767-200 fleet. Further mass media content

provided insight into those passengers whose travel plans had been affected by the

groundings. While CASA called the initial press conference on April 10 th, 2001, Ansett

was not a passive participant during the Acute Crisis stage of the Crisis Life Cycle.

Ansett attempted to control the flow of information to mass media by staging a series of

press conferences to address questions raised in mass media content. Further to illustrate

concern for its clients, Ansett announced that the airline would endeavour to move

passengers on other commercial aircraft, utilising support from its owner, Air New

Zealand (Wainwright, 2001).

The number of explanation themes was greatest in frequency during the Acute

Crisis stage, supporting Proposition Two. Mass media content presented a range of


articles from front page news stories to editorial discussions and letters to the editor.

Detailed explanations of the events of the crisis were presented. Blame and responsibility

themes also began to appear in mass media content during this period, suggesting that the

Acute Crisis stage allows for a variety of themes in content. This implication requires

further investigation in the refinement of the expanded Crisis Life Cycle model.

The Acute Crisis stage of the crisis exhibited several of the attributes that Fink’s

(1986) model predicts. First, the crisis proved to be a critical distraction for Ansett,

causing vast disruptions to its normal business operations. Second, the crisis attracted

increased government and media scrutiny. CASA commenced a complete review of all

Ansett operations and the Federal Government instigated an inquiry into the company’s

safety and maintenance activities. Mass media content of the crisis increased

dramatically during the Acute Crisis stage, moving the trigger theme of Ansett’s 767-

200’s safety record from an “undisclosed problem to a receptacle of attention” (Fink,

1986, p. 23). Mass media content explored and described the level of safety provided in

the Australian domestic air travel market since deregulation. The credibility of Ansett’s

safety and maintenance records was now open to investigation by mass media, as various

parties sought to explore how the crisis occurred. The financial stability of Ansett was

already under investigation by sections of mass media, the crisis increased the market’s

awareness of Ansett’s burgeoning debt and issues with its operations. The company’s

share price dropped, and customer confidence in the airline reached an all time low

(Caruana, 2001).

The data from the case study indicates that the Acute and Chronic Crisis stages of

the Crisis Life Cycle do not have clearly definable boundaries. Instead, as in this case, an


arbitrary decision must be made by the researcher to define the time frame for each stage.

Fishman (1999) argues that time is a useful factor in making the ‘cut’. However,

subjective judgement is required to segregate the two stages. Fink (1986) asserts that the

Acute Crisis stage is the ‘most intense’. The reason for selecting April 10 th to 20 th, 2001

as the Acute Crisis stage was this was the most intense period of the crisis. CASA had

threatened Ansett with a 14-day ‘Show Cause’ notice seeking to prevent the airline

operating and grounding the airline’s entire 767-200 fleet.

Proposition Three

In the Chronic Crisis stage, mass media content focuses on assigning responsibility

and blame for selected trigger themes.

The third or Chronic Crisis stage is so termed because the effects of a crisis may

linger for years, as physical restoration, legal action, and public activism ensures

continuing mass media coverage. The actions and activities of the organisation, mass

media and affected publics can prolong the effects of a crisis (Barton, 1993). This is the

stage where accusations and defences are made by the organisation (Benoit, 1997). The

third proposition proposed that the number of themes of blame and responsibility would

peak during the Chronic Crisis stage. The data supports this proposition. Mass media

content describe the reasons for the groundings and allocate blame and responsibility to

Ansett for the crisis.

In the post-Easter grounding environment, the mass media scrutiny of Ansett and

subsequently CASA were hostile. Members of the media obtained copies of CASA’s

December 2000 report into Ansett’s maintenance of its 767-200 fleet (Wainwright,

2001). Further the media sought the opinions of Boeing to assist in the allocation of


blame and responsibility for the crisis. In light of the CASA grounding of Ansett’s 767-

200 fleet, Ansett adopted a strategy of victimization. Gary Toomey, Ansett’s managing

director sought to assign blame to CASA for the crisis (Caruana, 2001).

Ansett was forced to accept responsibility for the maintenance failures and the

company undertook three major corrective actions to restore its public image and gain

CASA’s approval to continue operations. First, Ansett announced that the company

would sell its fleet of 767-200’s and commence a program to purchase a new fleet of 767

aricraft. Second, Ansett announced that the airline would appoint 400 new maintenance

workers to expand the company’s service and maintenance program. Finally, to restore

customer confidence, the ‘Absolutely’ advertising campaign at a cost $30 million was

launched in May 2001 to entice customers to again travel with Ansett.

The proposed themes of blame and responsibility did appear in mass media content

during this stage of the Crisis Life Cycle did meet the requirements of the proposition.

However, further refinement to the model is required to accommodate the changes in

mass media content during the Chronic stage of the Crisis Life Cycle.

Proposition Four

In the Crisis Resolution stage, mass media content focuses on themes of resolution

or the trigger theme moves to latent status.

The final or Resolution Stage is reached when the crisis no longer impacts the

organisation's operational environment or its publics (Fink, 1986; Mitroff, 1996).

Proposition Four proposes that mass media content will have the highest frequency of

resolution themes in this stage or the trigger theme will move back into the pool of trigger

themes. While Ansett advised CASA and the Australian public of how the company


would resolve the trigger theme, the trigger theme was not resolved during the case study.

Safety issues relating to Ansett’s 767-200 fleet continued to appear in mass media

content during the two remaining months of the case study. The company’s opportunity

to resolve the trigger theme was removed when Ansett was placed into receivership in

September 2001.

Only three resolution themes appeared during the case study and all three appeared

in May, 2001. It is apparent that the implication for crisis public relations practitioners is

that failure to resolve trigger themes ensures the ongoing threat of unresolved trigger

themes.

An evaluation of the adequacy of the propositions derived from Fink’s model

indicates that there are four initial issues to be considered.

First, during the Prodromal Crisis stage the behaviour of the trigger themes requires

further research to better monitor the movement of trigger themes within the pool of

trigger themes. Exploration and refinement of trigger theme identification and an

improved method of tracking the development of trigger theme is essential.

Second, the mass media content in the Prodromal Crisis Stage is not restricted to

brief discussions of the trigger theme, rather mass media content in this instance can

provide lengthy discussions of the trigger theme. This presents implications for public

relations professionals in terms of how best to identify trigger themes for the proposed

pool.

The literature does not provide a definitive structure for the demarcation of each

stage, research into this area of the Crisis Life Cycle is essential in the development of

the expanded model in terms of mass media content.


Finally, the Crisis Resolution stage is critical to the successful implementation of

crisis public relations strategy. However, resolution of trigger themes is directly linked to

the management of the crisis by an organisation, and resolution can only be achieved

through management action. Public relations professionals must have access to the

senior decision makers and influence in the decision making process to ensure greater

success in crisis management.

Study Limitations and Strengths

The expansion of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model explored in this study is

the initial step in building an adequate model that extends his work and provides for the

possibility of predicting mass media content during the Crisis Life Cycle. The study has

provided a preliminary test of the expanded model. The results indicate that further

research is required to develop the expanded model, prior to submitting it to a more

rigorous empirical test. When this testing is undertaken issues such as of inter-coder

reliability could be addressed.

This preliminary study endeavoured to develop a model to explore the nature of

mass media content during the Crisis Life Cycle. The single case study undertook the

first or preliminary test in the development of the expanded model.

The researcher acknowledges that there are three main limitations to consider with

case study methodology. The most cited limitation is the difficulty in generalizing the

findings (Yin, 1993). This initial study sought only to describe the expanded model in

terms of mass media content and present an initial discussion on the findings, drawing

implications for further research.

The decision for a single case study is supported by the literature of interpretive

researcher Wolcott (1994) who claims that single case designs, especially if the


researcher is inexperienced, are the best method of case study research. Experienced

researchers could aggregate and compare existing case studies of similar phenomena,

however Wolcott (1994) does not endorse multiple-case designs. The selection in terms

of the purpose of the study is further supported by both Yin (1993) and Wolcott (1994)

who assert the benefits of single case study in explorative studies.

Yin (1993) claims that the goal of the study should establish the parameters that

then should be applied to all research. In this way, even the single case should be

considered acceptable, provided it met the established objective (Yin, 1993). The prime

objective of the study was to describe the relationship between the types of themes

present in mass media content and Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle. Further this

preliminary test was the first step in building an adequate model to extend Fink’s work.

The research of cited of Yin (1993) and Wolcott (1994) supports the decision of the

researcher to select a single case study unit for the research undertaken.

Second, literature raises the concern of lack of skill and/or bias by the researcher as

case studies are dependent on the sensitivity and integrity of the researcher (Yin, 1993).

The researcher is the primary data gathering instrument and each researcher has different

skill levels. There also can be unethical selection of data, bias, and failure to distinguish

between stated and observed behaviours and attitudes. This initial study explored print

mass media content collated for a single case study. The methodology for choosing

newspapers for this research was based on the criteria of national coverage in Australian

newspapers. Four newspapers were chosen, The Australian, The Australian Financial


Review, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald due to the spread of the readership of

the newspapers.

The research material consists of a total of 269 newspapers articles. This number

refers to all newspaper articles in which the name ‘Ansett’ and ‘safety’ appeared during

the designated time period. These articles were collected from January 1 st, 2001 to June

30 th, 2001. The systematic gathering of the articles was confirmed as an exhaustive

collection using the electronic search engine Lexis® Nexis®.

Case studies are limited by being labour-intensive and time consuming (Yin, 1993).

As case studies can exhibit characteristics both iterative and emergent, false starts and

unproductive investigation were minimized by the researcher’s careful planning for the

study, articulation of the research question posed, and comprehensive development of the

research design undertaken for the study.

Yin (1993) warns that case studies can generate a product which is too lengthy,

detailed, or involved to be of much value to practitioners. Mindful of this limitation and

in consideration of the primary audience, other public relations researchers, the

researcher exercised discretion in the amount of description, analysis, and summarization

included in the study. Further as Miles and Huberman (1984) and Yin (1993) stated that

developing a priori construct prior to data collection assists in focusing research and

provides a stronger foundation for the instruments of measurement. The researcher

sought to describe the expanded model in terms of mass media content and devised the

indicators in terms of the propositions posed. This study satisfies the three tenets of the

qualitative method (Yin, 1993). This was achieved by describing the relationship

between the expanded Crisis Life Cycle model and mass media content. The study


sought to understand why mass media content changes through the four stages of a crisis,

and attempts to explain how content themes change during the Crisis Life Cycle.

The researcher considered three issues in assembling the documents for content

analysis and each has been considered in relation to the study. First, when a substantial

number of documents from the population are missing, the content analysis must be

abandoned (Stemler, 2001). This did not occur as ready access to all newsprint was

available through the electronic search engine. Second, inappropriate records (e.g., ones

that do not match the definition of the document required for analysis) should be

discarded, but a record should be kept of the reasons (Stemler, 2001). The four

newspapers selected for the study were searched for data, which resulted in data that

represented the entire population used in the study. Finally, some documents might

match the requirements for analysis but just be uncodable because they contain missing

passages or ambiguous content (Stemler, 2001). All documents were complete due to the

use of the search engine.

The most basic style of content analysis is a word-frequency count. Researchers

draw the assumption that the words that are mentioned most often are the words that

reflect the greatest concerns (Stemler, 2001). This basic assumption does not

accommodate several issues essential in undertaking this form of content analysis. One

issue is the impact of synonyms, which could be used for stylistic reasons throughout a

document, and cause the researcher to underestimate the importance of a concept (Weber,

1990). Another is the weighting of words selected as each word may not represent a

category equally. Currently, content analysis lacks well-developed weighting

procedures; hence the researcher should be aware of this limitation (Weber, 1990). For


example, the word ‘bat’ could mean a mammal, a tool, or an action verb. Multiple

meaning words are those with several meanings dependent upon how they are used in a

sentence. Mindful of this limitation, the researcher explored data in terms of specific

content themes and while the themes were used as a frequency count, single words were

not.

The overarching problem of concept analysis research is the challengeable nature of

conclusions reached by its inferential procedures (Stemler, 2001). The issue of the level

of implication is acceptable and reasonable conclusions can be drawn from substantive

amounts of quantitative data, but the question of proof may still remain unanswered

(Stemler, 2001).

The issues of reliability and validity arise in all research methods. However, as this

study was a preliminary exploration of the expanded model and issues of reliability and

validity have been satisfied in terms of the study.

The generalizability of results depend on how the concept categories are determined

and the level of reliability (Stemler, 2001). The articles were used as units of analysis,

and their titles, position and content were examined. Each article has been classified

according a defined set of criteria as presented in Appendix A. The focal trigger theme

drawn from the pool of general themes was ‘Ansett safety’, it was selected after a

frequency count of all Ansett coverage in print mass media content during the first six

months of 2001.

Reproducibility, not only of specific categories but of general methods is applied to

establishing all sets of categories makes the study, and its subsequent conclusions and

results, more sound (Stemler, 2001). The researcher classified the analysed units

simultaneously in order to achieve interceding reliability. Following the collection,


examination and classification of the articles, an electronic structured data file was

created containing the research material. The statistical editing, processing and analysis

of the data were done with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

Content analysis provided several advantages to the researcher (Weber, 1990).

Content analysis enabled the researcher to examine communication via texts or

transcripts, and hence gain an understanding of the central aspect of social interaction

(Stemler, 2001). Content analysis assisted the researcher in gaining valuable

historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts (Sarantakos, 1998).

Further, content analysis allowed the researcher a closeness to mass media content which

enabled the researcher to explore specific categories and relationships and also

statistically analyses the coded form of the text (Weber, 1990). Finally, content analysis

is an unobtrusive means of analysing interactions, it provides insight into complex

models of human thought and language use and when undertaken proficiently is

considered a relatively ‘exact’ research method (Weber, 1990).

Content analysis suffers from several disadvantages, both theoretical and procedural

(Stemler, 2001). In particular, content analysis can be extremely time consuming, and

subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher

level of interpretation, it is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to

draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and impacts implied in a study

(Weber, 1990). It is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts

and tends too often to simply consist of word counts disregarding the context which

produced the text (Weber, 1990).


CONCLUSION

In the discipline of public relations, crisis public relations continues to generate

strong interest in both academic and professional arenas. Yet, both researchers and

public relations practitioners have struggled to operationalize the role of public relations

role in crisis situations (Coombs, 1999; Heath, 2001). The result are public relations

strategies that generally are defined either by lists of quantitative variables that are

expensive to measure and difficult to integrate, or qualitative models, often restricted to

procedural devices and context-specific applications (Cornelissen, 2000). These reactive

crisis public relations strategies are the least effective, yet the most commonly used today

(Marra, 1992). Marra (1998), Fishman (1999) and others have ensured the evolution of

research to a strategic focus, asserting that strategic crisis public relations is an essential

business function.

The most prevalent theories presented for crisis communication are drawn from

management, business and mass communication. These theories remain isolated within

their own disciplines and the current body of literature lacks integration of these ideas

and concepts. This study drew on the current body of crisis literature, in particular, Fink’s

(1986) Crisis Life Cycle model and applied the expanded model to inform crisis public

relations strategy. This study has sought to integrate the ideas of research of Fearn-Banks

(1996), Mitroff (1996), Heath (2001) and others with the various ideas and constructs of

crisis communication to better inform crisis public relations practitioners. The study has

sought to integrate the two areas of literature of crisis public relations and mass media

content to explore the relationship in terms of Fink’s (1986) Crisis Life Cycle model.

The results of the case study provide further research to refine the expanded model.


Further the propositions require further development to better describe mass media

content during each stage of the crisis. The main aim of the study has been to refine the

expanded model so that it could be strengthened with subsequent research and testing.

The study’s results indicate that the Crisis Life Cycle model should be considered in

the larger context of crisis public relations theory. This extension of the model to include

general themes present in mass media content serves as a framework for evaluating the

effectiveness of public relations strategy during crises, thereby, making an explicit

contribution to current crisis public relations literature.



(1986) model. The identification of these themes allows for the construction of a model

that predicts broad thematic categories during the four stages of the Crisis Life Cycle.

The development of the model enables practitioners to predict what type of content

will appear and when. This type of predication is not possible through the main body of

research, as it is descriptive in nature. The theoretically based model presented will allow

public relations practitioners to identify themes and facilitate implementation of crisis

public relations strategy in the Prodromal phase, thereby avoiding the Acute Crisis stage

and most damaging stage of the crisis.

The study has demonstrated the relevance and importance of the extension of Fink’s

(1986) model to understanding mass media content during a crisis. The extension of

Fink’s (1986) model and mass media content provides a way to better understand a crisis

and its life cycle from a public relations perspective. Further this expanded model

provides the framework for public relations professionals to identify and comprehend the


dynamic and multi-dimensional set of relationships that occur during the Crisis Life

Cycle in a rapidly changing environment.


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APPENDIX A

Case Study Coding Framework

a) Basic Information

1 Item number

2 Coder

3 Newspaper name

4 Date

b) Article Position

5 Article Section

6 Page Number

7 Size of Article

c) Article Theme – General Descriptive Category

T Trigger Theme

c) Paragraph Theme – Specific Exclusive Category

E Explanation Theme

B Blame Theme

R1 Responsibility Theme

R2 Resolution Theme


Explanation

Basic Information

1 – Item Number (code number and 3 digits)

Commentary: Identification number of article. Each article has been assigned with

an identification number from the population from 001 to 269.

2 – Coder (coder – 2 digits)

Commentary: Identification number of coder. As there are multiple coders for

analysis, each will be identified numerically 01, 02, 03, etc….

3 – Newspaper Name (2 digits)

The Australian 01

The Australian Financial Review 02

The Age 03

The Sydney Morning Herald 04

Commentary: Identification of number of the newspaper.

4 – Date (4 digits)

Commentary: Identification of article by date. Day and month of when the article

was published with number of days presented 01 through to 31 and number of months

from 01 to 06.

News Frame

5 – Article Section (2 digits)

News / Local 01

Business / Finance 02

Aviation 03


Features 04

Editorial 05

Letter to the editor 06

Company / Markets 07

Sport 08

Computers 09

Commentary: Attempting to find a distinction between themes and location of

article during each of the four stages of the life cycle.

6 – Page Number ( 2 digits)

Commentary: Identify the perceived significance of the story by the newspaper

during the four stages of the life cycle.

7 – Size of Article

Small (Less than 350 words) 01

Medium (Between 351 and 750 words) 02

Large (Greater than 751 words) 03

Commentary: To measure the editorial importance given to the article, used to

attract the reader’s attention. All four newspapers are of roughly equal size so the

defined size will be applicable across the data.

General Descriptive Category

Trigger Theme T

Commentary: Each trigger theme will present in content as a brief synopsis or

initial coverage of a specific issue or event which has the potential to progress to a crisis.


There are two clearly distinct types of articles; those with a focus on the Ansett’s

safety and articles with a different focus, where the reference to Ansett safety appears in

discussion. When the article focus is secondary on Trigger Theme coding, the

information collected from the articles should focus on the section that talks about Ansett

767-200 groundings specifically. The focal Trigger Theme selected due to frequency is

Ansett Safety. The following four themes will be analysed in terms of this theme.

Specific Exclusive Category – Cause / Effect Relationships

Explanation Theme E

Commentary: Explanation themes from mass media content of extensive

discussions on the actual events of the crisis and the issues related to its occurrence.

Often presented as chronological discussions of the crisis or event, the explanation theme

presents various issues related to the crisis.

Blame Theme B

Commentary: Blame themes typically present as individuals or the organisation

attempts to assign blame for the crisis occurring, usually through making accusations in

mass media.

Responsibility Theme R1

Commentary: Responsibility themes present as discussions of how the event

occurred and who or what is responsible for its occurrence.

Resolution Theme R2

Commentary: Resolution theme discussions summarize how the crisis occurred,

where blame was allocated and implications for the future can be drawn from the events.

Documents

Description of the Relationship between the Crisis Life ...eprints.qut.edu.au/15827/1/Gwyneth_Howell_Thesis.pdfeach stage of the crisis, mass media content focuses on particular identifiable