APOLOGIA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF BRITISH PETROLEUM’S RESPONSE TO THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL A Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies California State University, Sacramento Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Communication Studies by Kearsten Shepherd SPRING 2012 © 2012 Kearsten Shepherd ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii APOLOGIA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF BRITISH PETROLEUM’S RESPONSE TO THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL A Thesis by Kearsten Shepherd Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Dr. Jacqueline Irwin __________________________________, Second Reader Dr. Mark Williams __________________________________, Second Reader Dr. Mark Stoner ____________________________ Date iii Student: Kearsten Shepherd I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. __________________________, Graduate Coordinator ___________________ Dr. Michele S. Foss-Snowden Date Department of Communication Studies iv Abstract of APOLOGIA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF BRITISH PETROLEUM’S RESPONSE TO THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL by Kearsten Shepherd This thesis looks at the apologia employed by British Petroleum in the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2010. The critical question of this thesis is: What modes of apologia did British Petroleum employ in its public rhetoric in an effort to defend itself from accusations over the cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? This thesis will analyze the press releases made public by British Petroleum to determine which modes of apologia, if any, were employed by the company to restore its image. This study argues that apologia is used by organizations in responses of self-defense in an effort to improve its image with the public audience. _______________________, Committee Chair Dr. Jacqueline Irwin _______________________ Date v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the continued encouragement I received from Dr. Irwin to not complete my thesis. In all honesty, I should have completed this in the fall of 2010, but continued to put it off until Dr. Irwin talked some sense into me. Without your constant support, prodding, pushing, and the more than occasional handholding, I would have never actually finished this program. There are no words to accurately convey my thanks to you for everything that you have done to get me to this point. You have been a teacher, a mentor, and above all a friend throughout this process and I will forever be in your debt for that. In addition I want to thank Dr. Williams, to whom without I would have never started the Communication Studies program or ever discovered my love of rhetoric. Throughout this program you have continued to guide my path and aid my progress as I navigated my way through. I truly appreciate all you have done to help me achieve my goals. I also want to thank Dr. Stoner who challenged me to change the way that I learn and the way that I teach others. Thank you for changing the way I see the world. I want to thank all of you for your guidance through the thesis process hand helping me to write the best thesis there is – a finished one! I also want to thank the many wonderful instructors I have had throughout this program that have helped steer me down the right path, and share with me their wisdom. I would especially like to thank Dr. Foss-Snowden for being a mentor and providing me with opportunities I never thought possible. I also want to thank the cohort of students that went through this craziness with me, thank you for being a sympathetic ear and a vi continued source of support. I will always look back on our late nights in the library and study sessions with great fondness – you all know who you are. To Sarah Billingsley, I want to thank you for sitting through my constant sighing and looking past my sarcastic comments to become one of my best friends; not only in this program but in life. You may be the only other person I know that gets as excited as I do in learning something new. Thank you for your support and continued help with SPSS. To my family and friends, thank you for putting up with my bad moods, continued neglect, and constant pontification over things I’ve learned that in no way interest you. Your encouragement has helped me more than you will ever know, and without your support I likely would have never gotten through it all. I love you all more than you know. Lastly, I would like to dedicate this body of work to my husband Kyle without whom I would not be who I am today. Thank you for your constant encouragement and for never letting me give up, even though I wanted to many times throughout this process. I would not have been able to any of this without you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Genre: Classifying Rhetoric .....................................................................................2 Apologia as a Genre .................................................................................................4 Media in the 21st Century: A Summary ..................................................................8 Image Restoration: Corporate Crisis Management ................................................10 The Deepwater Horizon Spill: Brief Background .................................................13 Methodology ..........................................................................................................14 Rationale ................................................................................................................16 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................18 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .............................................................................19 Rhetorical Criticism ...............................................................................................20 Genre ......................................................................................................................23 Apologia .................................................................................................................27 Image Restoration ..................................................................................................31 British Petroleum Organizational History .............................................................36 BP’s History of Oil Spills and Environmental Damages .......................................39 The Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe .....................................................................40 Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill..........................................................43 viii 3. ANALYSIS OF BP’S RESPONSE TO THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL ...........................................................................................................................46 BP Confirms that Transocean Ltd Issued the Following Statement Today ...........47 BP Offers Full Support to Transocean After Drilling Rig Fire .............................48 BP Initiates Response to Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill ................................................50 BP Offers Sympathy to the Families of Those Lost in the U.S. Oil Rig Fire ........52 BP Forges Ahead with Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response ..................................53 BP Pledges Full Support for Deepwater Horizon Probes ......................................55 BP Steps Up Shoreline Protection Plans on U.S. Gulf Coast ................................57 Hayward Applauds President’s Statement .............................................................58 Update on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response – May 5 ..................................60 Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response – May 7 ........................................61 Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response – May 10 ......................................62 Update on Gulf Spill Response – May 17 .............................................................63 BP Launches Live Webcam of Riser Flow ............................................................64 Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response – May 26 ......................................65 BP Sets Out Enhancements to LMRP Containment Strategy to Keep Oil Out of Gulf .............................................................................................................66 Chairman and CEO Give Assurance that BP will Meet its Obligations in Gulf of Mexico .......................................................................................................68 Update on Gulf of Mexico Spill – June 7 ..............................................................71 BP Emphasizes that Disagreement with Other Parties Will Not Diminish its Promise to Clean Up the Spill and Pay Legitimate Claims ..............................72 ix BP Reiterates Media Access Policy .......................................................................74 Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – July 5 .........................................................75