Crisis Framing and Credibility: the Influence of Crisis Communication Efforts of Public Leaders on Political Standing After an Unexpected Private Sector Disaster
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Crisis Framing and Credibility: The influence of crisis communication efforts of public leaders on political standing after an unexpected private sector disaster Jieun Gina Park Student number: S1616099 [email protected] Supervisor: Dr. Ruth S. Prins Second reader: Dr. Joery Matthys Master Thesis, MSc in Crisis and Security Management Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs Universiteit Leiden / Leiden University Table of Contents 1: Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1. Research Question................................................................................................................................................5 1.2. Concepts to Define...............................................................................................................................................6 1.2.1. Crisis.............................................................................................................................................................6 1.2.2. Crisis Communication ..................................................................................................................................7 1.2.3. Political Standing .........................................................................................................................................8 1.3. Relevance .............................................................................................................................................................8 1.3.1. Academic Relevance .....................................................................................................................................8 1.3.2. Practical Relevance ......................................................................................................................................9 2: Theoretical Framework...................................................................................................................... 10 2.1. State of the Art ...................................................................................................................................................10 2.2. Main models/theoretical framework to be used.................................................................................................13 2.2.1. Boin et. al (2009) – Crisis Framing............................................................................................................14 2.2.2. Coombs (1998) – Seven Crisis Communication Strategies ........................................................................15 2.2.3. Additional modelling extension – the Integrated Crisis Communication-Political Standing Model .........17 3: Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 20 3.1. Research Design and Case Selection .................................................................................................................20 3.1.1. Overall Strategy..........................................................................................................................................20 3.1.2. Case Study Design ......................................................................................................................................20 3.2. Operationalisation of concepts...........................................................................................................................22 3.3. Data Collection and Analysis.............................................................................................................................25 3.4. Limitations/Quality of the Research ..................................................................................................................29 4: Case Analysis 1 - The Sewol Case...................................................................................................... 31 4.1. The Sewol Ferry Disaster...................................................................................................................................31 4.2. Crisis Communication, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won................................................................................32 4.3. Political Standing, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won .......................................................................................36 5: Case Analysis 2 - The Deepwater Oil Spill Case .............................................................................. 39 5.1. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill ......................................................................................................................39 5.2. Crisis Communication, President Barack Obama..............................................................................................40 5.3. Political Standing, President Barack Obama .....................................................................................................46 5.4. Case Comparison ...............................................................................................................................................50 6: Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 53 6.1. Findings..............................................................................................................................................................53 6.2. Relevance ...........................................................................................................................................................55 6.2.1. Academic Relevance ...................................................................................................................................55 6.2.2. Practical Relevance ....................................................................................................................................56 6.3. Issues in Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................57 6.4. Future Considerations ........................................................................................................................................58 7: Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 59 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................59 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................................................................60 Methodology .............................................................................................................................................................61 Case Analysis 1 – The Sewol Case...........................................................................................................................62 Master’s Thesis Crisis and Security Management – J. Gina Park | 2 Case Analysis 2 – The Deepwater Oil Spill Case.....................................................................................................63 Appendix I: Yonhap News Data Collection .......................................................................................... 66 Appendix II: Chosun Ilbo Data Collection ........................................................................................... 68 Appendix III: CNN Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 70 Appendix IV: Washington Post Data Collection.................................................................................. 72 Master’s Thesis Crisis and Security Management – J. Gina Park | 3 1: Introduction The world today is becoming more interconnected, and perhaps more crisis prone. During these times of crises, the public looks to the government for safety, security and answers; as such, the ability or inability of the leader to provide an appropriate response to this demand determines his or her political standing after the immediate crisis is over. Crises have become another battleground in the political game for the public leader, yet the magnitude of crisis communication has not yet been recognised in proportion to its importance. With the continued globalisation and cooperation of joint-partnerships between the private and public sectors, the actions of one increasingly affect the other; subsequently any crisis that occurs demands appropriate communication from both sectors. In this light, it is crucial that crisis communication is explored for managing reputation and political standing, as it is political, and therefore strategic. The effect of crises is palpable, both for the actors involved as well as for the overall community at hand. In the public sector, we have seen that bad crisis management can lead to the demise of the politician both through reputational standing and by physical holding of the office, mostly in cases of personal scandals such as the case of New York governor Eliot Spitzer, or after handling of public protests such as the criminal trials of Hosni Mubarak after his resignation (Washington Post, 2008; Kirkpatrick, 2011). In the private sector we see that bad