Ignoring basic crisis management isn’t a good sign
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has launched a review of anti-corruption controls in several of its publishing arms, including News International in London.
Murdoch told News Corp staff in a memo on Wednesday that the company recently launched the probe as a “forward-looking review” to improve compliance with bribery laws.
The media tycoon told staff that the anti-corruption review was “not based on any suspicion of wrongdoing by any particular business unit or its personnel”.
This quote, from a Guardian article by Josh Halliday, is proof that Rupert Murdoch really hasn’t learned much from his failed crisis management for the multiple ethics and corruption scandals that continue to rock his media empire. In seeking to deny the painfully obvious link between a company already proven to be deeply corrupted and a major anti-corruption review, Murdoch refuses to stick to one of the tenets of Crisis Management 101: transparency and honesty are key. With 20+ News Corp staffers arrested already by UK police, it’s clear that there was shady business going on, so why deny that you’re cleaning up? It makes no sense.
It seems Murdoch has learned one thing…the Guardian article also had this “hindsight is 20/20” statement to share:
Murdoch said the strengthening of News Corp’s compliance procedures will take time and resources, but added that the cost of non-compliance are far more serious.
You’d better believe that! The scandal at News Corp has already cost the company some $315 million, and with the trouble continuing to roll in I’d hope Murdoch has permanently hired the best compliance team money can buy. It would be a wise investment, if he kept them on for the rest of their lives it wouldn’t scratch that total!
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]
Jonathan L. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations.
Erik Bernstein is vice president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the VP position.