Crisis Communication

The session of Theoretical Challenges, developed within the field of Crisis Communication, took place this morning, at 9:30. The session was chaired by S. Allern and attended by Andreas Schwarz, Eva-Karin Olson, Cheryl Mei-Xian, Charlene Quek Wei-Ling Ho and Audra Diers, among other scholars.
The first speaker, Andreas Schwarz from university of Technology (German), presented a complex and innovative study based on Kelley’s “Covariation”, concluding that there is still a long way to go before its practical application.
From University Helsingborg (Sweden), Eva-Karin Olson referred to crisis communication as a multi-level game. Analysing two communication crisis – the Australian 2007 elections and the candidates climate change policies and the 2005 “Jyllands-Posten” Muhammad cartoons controversy -, the lecturer concluded that non-linear crisis urge the individuals to show coherence throughout the whole process, specially when it concerns statements to the media and policies adopted to fight the said crisis. Nevertheless, the options taken to solve the situation must be flexible enough to adjust to the type and level of the crisis. 
Cheryl Mei-Xian and Charlene Quek Wei-Ling Ho from the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) focused their study on “media hypes”. The scholars then proceeded to explain how an organization should deal with the media during a crisis, in order to minimize the impact of the situation: firstly, the organization should have good relations with the media, which is key on a good crisis management plan. Even more essential, according to Cheryl Mei-Xian and Charlene Quek Wei-Ling Ho, is understanding how media hypes function, so the organization can avoid bad media coverage.
Audra Diers, a scholar from Marist College (EUA), pointed out five essential variables of analysis of a communication crisis: the industry, the crisis type, the nation where the crisis takes place and the channel that reports the crisis (traditional media VS. new media). Concluding, professor Diers stated that there is a need to study cross-national emerging crisis patterns, for they would serve as a comparison to national crisis, enhancing the disabilities of the national crisis. 

Diana Teixeira, Eduarda Fernandes, Laura Vilaça and Neuza Alpuim