Crisis PR and the Murdochs: day 11 – the Parliamentary Committee appearance – finally, the Murdoch fight-back.

The 18^th of July will go down as Day 1 of the Murdoch fight-back. The day father and son appeared before the British parliamentary ctee.

In terms of reporting, the day started out as one of the Murdochs’ worst PR days. It was Day 11 since the closure of NOTW on the 7^th. For the record, this is how the NYT covered it, with page after page of critical analysis and commentary:

• a coverup (Murdoch Aides Long Tried to Blunt Scandal Over Hacking);
• collusion with politicians (Opponents Seize on Cameron’s Ties to Suspects);
• the hazards of the ctee hearing outcomes (Murdoch Faces Questions, but Gains Vocal Support)
• the Board ‘Friends of Rupert’ (Murdoch’s Board Stands By as Scandal Widens):

The Parliamentary Hearing:

From a Crisis PR point of view, it was the interview the Murdochs’ had to do – to set the agenda (In a crisis you have to move from being the subject of an attack in the media to controlling the commentary with your own messages). We have discussed this in earlier blogs.

As we predicted, both Murdochs gave a Teflon performance – nothing stuck. We think it went like clockwork. Stock prices went up; even the journalists who had been most critical had nothing substantial to work with except RM’s age, and JM’s quality performance. And of course their believability. Nothing more. Time will tell if they were truthful.

Next Steps

Remember that from a Crisis PR point of view the twin media relations objectives at this stage are:

1. As little media as possible about the phone hacking issue; and,
2. If there is media, ensure if possible that you not on the defensive; that you are leading, as much as possible, the content – in the same way the Tony Abbott is consistently leading the story angles over Julia Gillard.

At a higher level this is not about ‘Spin’ and all that the word implies. Integrity is front and centre here. It is about survival – to not do this is to be damaged permanently: by politicians with their agendas; by media commentators with theirs. Crisis PR is about knowing how to put your best foot forward.

So next steps for the Murdochs’ are to:

1. Say nothing on the phone hacking topic, unless something is required to keep setting the agenda (because of, say, new revelations). This may require them (probably James only, unless he becomes more implicated) to address new revelations in another interview, but most likely it will be a “no comment so as not to jeopardise the inquiries” or a minimal response.
2. Move the topic away from phone hacking, probably using the Murdoch disciples and employees around the world as talent, to other conversation pieces, about for example ‘the future of newspapers’ and ‘the reason countries crave tabloid journalism’ and ‘the success of the Murdoch business’.

And then behind the scenes, and away from the media, the real work starts, rebuilding the business plan, with or without the goal of the purchasing BSky