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]
One little comment on the Murdoch’s vapid statement about “improving compliance” in the piece “Has News Corp’s Crisis Taught Murdoch Anything?”
Answer is “Of course, not!” And why should we not be surprised? A large percentage of News Corp’s newspaper holdings rely on sleazy journalism. It’s their bread and butter.
The white between the lines of Murdoch’s statement suggests “Bugger off – we’ll continue to push the envelope, but try harder not to get caught.”
If Murdoch walks away from sleazy journalism, he throws in the towel of The Sun, National Enquirer and a bunch of other highly profitable News Corp papers. That might be noble and the “right” thing to do, but by doing it, he basically kisses his supermarket tabloid business goodbye, and potentially his shareholders. . . .And that’s not the Murdoch way. What’s that thing about “a leopard never chaining its spots?”
You may have hit the nail on the head with regards to the ethics that underlie Murdoch’s empire, and fortune. Given the fact that much of his livelihood is blatantly dependent on shady “reporting,” we may be expecting too much of Mr. Murdoch.
His actions are somewhat reminiscent of big pharma companies, they essentially live on the, “who cares, people are still buying” ethos. This isn’t to say that the court of public opinion couldn’t do them in, but clearly they’ve recognized their position and feel confident that they aren’t in danger of a reputation crisis, or government fines, closing their doors.