{"id":1331,"date":"2017-01-09T13:12:56","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T13:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socialsimulator.com\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2017-01-09T13:12:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T13:12:56","slug":"how-should-government-ministers-determine-a-media-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpfuldigital.com\/fr\/how-should-government-ministers-determine-a-media-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"How should Government Ministers determine a media crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK Institute for Government have published a\u00a0series\u00a0of interviews with former Ministers, reflecting on the crises they faced during their time in office. It’s an interesting read, because most interviewees are no longer shackled by a\u00a0need to protect their\u00a0future career. Nonetheless, in their time they were accountable\u00a0during\u00a0some serious events.\u00a0These include public health scandals, major policy reform and financial crisis.<\/p>\n

You can read the summary PDF<\/a>, with links to more in-depth transcripts at the end.<\/p>\n

Reading Ministers’ stories brought back a lot of memories, either because I had worked with some of those interviewed\u00a0during the crises they described, or because the experiences sounded very familiar.<\/p>\n

What stands out in these stories\u00a0is the attention that’s paid to mainstream news as a key indicator of crisis.\u00a0If it has a headline, then it’s a crisis. If journalists are calling up the press office, it’s a crisis.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to read an updated set of interviews in 2020, or thereabouts. I’d hope that\u00a0a retired Transport Minister will recall the pressure of a long-term, vociferous and highly damaging online campaign by commuters on the Southern Rail network, long before ‘Fleet Street’ made it headlines. Likewise,\u00a0Vauxhall’s car fires, widely discussed\u00a0online, months\u00a0before customers appeared on Watchdog.<\/p>\n

\"Vauxhall<\/p>\n

Ministers are reliant on the Civil Service to provide them with distilled, accurate and representative packages of information and advice. In these circumstances, listening to the web and responding to your audience online (which is very different to ‘managing the media’) can provide the Government and its representatives with a much more balanced view and a more accurate sense of whether something is a crisis.<\/p>\n

One day in 2009, my Department of Health press office colleagues began receiving calls from the press about the death of a young woman\u00a0following a routine vaccination. Headlines were being drafted and a new health scare was in the offing.<\/p>\n

Most of the lessons identified in the IfG summary were in place, including:<\/p>\n