THE ROLE OF MEDIA RESPONSE
by
Patrick Adamson
MTI Network
INTRODUCTION
Since the OPA ’90 Legislation came into force, owners and managers trading tankships into the
USA have had to face up to the realities of providing ‘public information’ in the event of oil
pollution. This concept of providing such information, on a worldwide basis, and the need to
protect corporate reputation should things go wrong has today been embraced by most of the
leading owners of tankers and many of the non-tank fleet owners.
Such information has been provided in a number of ways and through a variety of sources over
the past decade. In recent years, however, the concept of using media specialists, with a long-term
knowledge of the shipping industry, in the crucial role of media response and information
provision has gained favour.
Established in 1989, the MTI Network today is one of the leading specialist shipping industry
organisations providing media response and public information services for shipowners,
shipmanagers, charterers and maritime entities all around the world.
MTI Network, working out of 9 international offices in key maritime locations, provides its
services – among others – to some 90 shipowners and managers responsible for more than 1500
vessels. The Network also provides a range of reputation protection / media response training
courses ranging from advanced television training for those who could be asked to speak on
behalf of their companies, to media awareness and hands-on media handling training for all
operational staff and ships’ masters.
PREPARATION AND PLANNING
The speed with which the media works in today’s environment does mean that to be in a position
to effectively provide any form of timely public information and media response, an owner or
manager needs to have a plan and strategy in place well before the event. The hope is that such a
plan will never be called into action, but 0300 hours on a cold Sunday morning is no time to be
trying to assemble media response services and briefing people not only on the incident, but the
ships, the Company and all its policies. And that is in addition to dealing with the physical
response, company colleagues and the many expert organisations, while ensuring normal
operations continue, as they must.
As the ship, in almost all cases, will be at the centre of the incident and be deemed the responsible
party, it is incumbent on the shipowner or shipmanager to provide effective response to media
questions. This is not to say that other parties – port state – response organisations – cargo interest
– salvors – environmental agencies etc – will not be asked to comment. But it will be the
shipowner – or manager if taking primacy with the media - who has the most to lose in the early
stages in terms of loss of reputation and threat to on-going operations. It is also a fact that the
shipping industry in general, does not enjoy a high reputation with the public or general media as
ships only seem to be in the news when things go wrong. The complex structure of the
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shipowning, ship registration and crewing arrangements are also largely misunderstood by those
outside the industry.
In planning for effective response and public information provision following an incident an
owner or manager must therefore:

Have a plan in place with one or more specialist media response organisations providing
on the ground media watch and handling capability in all the main areas where the ships
are trading.

Provide sufficient ships’ data, policy statements, contact details etc to that organisation so
that the only thing that needs to be discussed is the incident itself, working with other
organisations to provide a unified response and the strategy going forward.

Have identified company spokespersons (at least 4) who can speak on the company’s
behalf and have them trained in mass media (TV) techniques.

Have established a crew management policy, including the ship’s master and how
requests by the media – including those by ships’ telephone are to be handled.

Train company operations staff and those who could be on the other end of a telephone
how to deal with media enquiry in a positive and forthright manner in line with agreed
policy.

Develop a comprehensive Q&A (Questions and Answer set) covering all key company
information and dealing with the key question areas that the media feel are important eg
FOC, security, response to terrorism, compensation etc.

Regularly drill the whole system to make sure it works efficiently.
SPEED OF RESPONSE
The media, quite rightly, will not wait for a shipowner, port state or anyone else to get its act
together if there is an event which could affect the public welfare or interest.
To be in a position to influence at least part of the media agenda, a shipowner or manager needs
to be in a position to put out a holding statement within 2/3 hours of an incident taking place.
Such a statement will not provide other than basic information on the incident itself, but can
provide accurate details of the ship, crew and Company.
What it will do is provide a credible source of contact for the media as the incident and response
unfolds.
An ‘Information Centre’ should be established, preferably by the media specialists close to the
incident and away from the Company’s office, where the available telephone lines are required to
deal with the physical aspects of the incident and on-going operations.
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ANATOMY OF A NEWS STORY
The speed of news gathering and dissemination means that most shipping incidents only have a
life of 2/3 days. First impressions are the most important and last the longest; again the need for a
fast, accurate and truthful report on the event on behalf of the owner and on what is being done to
protect the public interest, including the environment, is paramount.
OTHER PARTIES INVOLVED
An owner’s media strategy cannot exist in isolation. Those close to the owner will want to know
what is going to be said and may have an input: Cargo interests, P&I Club, the Company’s
appointed lawyers, ITOPF, Class Society, other experts. Given that they are in the information
loop, they should be happy to have their position reflected in the owner/manager’s statement.
Flag State should also be encouraged to reflect its position within the owner’s statement.
Governmental bodies/coast guard agencies/official spill response organisations will have a public
duty to provide information as to their roles and the progress of the response/clean up etc. There
should, however, be close contact between the owner/manager’s public information
representatives and those of the official bodies to ensure coordination of message.
No one’s interests are served by differing messages coming out of different organisations and
simply create the perception to the public of an industry out of control and general chaos.
FINALLY
Public information and media response is not a science; no two incidents are ever the same. The
ART – if there is one, is in the requirement for the responsible party or parties to be Accountable,
Responsible and Transparent. Coupled with the need for consistency of message and close
cooperation with all other parties, including those responsible for any other ship or asset involved,
these will do much in the public and industry domain to reflect well on all those involved.
HONG KONG SCENARIO
The concepts briefly discussed above will be applied to the shipping casualty and oil spill
scenario presented to the seminar participants.
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