ADVICE FOR A CRISIS: TAKE YOUR LICKS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992                   TAG: 9201100139
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
ADVICE FOR A CRISIS: TAKE YOUR LICKS
Alaska's Valdez collision "was more of a communications problem than an oil spill problem," according to a consultant who helps executives and companies face hostile audiences.
Stephen C. Rafe, president of Rapport Communications in Warrenton, said Exxon's poor response in that crisis is an example of how not to deal with media questions.
Valdez Bay has more and bigger salmon Get it out and get it open. Stephen Rafe than it did before the spill, Rafe said, yet the initial headlines outweighed the ultimate environmental impact.
Rafe was in Roanoke on Thursday to teach a seminar at Virginia Western Community College. His program was titled "Facing Difficult Questions." He covered hostile audiences, sales prospects, answering questions at company meetings and dealing with the media in emergencies.
He has practical experience in the field, having trained AT&T personnel during that corporation's divestiture a decade ago, NASA in the Challenger disaster and Johnson & Johnson in the Tylenol crisis.
Johnson & Johnson has been widely hailed for its handling of the Tylenol situation, but Rafe said the company had some factors in its favor.
"They were the victim rather than the people who poisoned their pills," Rafe said. And the company has a credo that, among other behests, requires employees to do "the right thing."
"They went to their credo and followed it to the letter," Rafe said. As the company board considered the situation, he said, the members kept referring to the credo.
Rafe said his message to companies facing a crisis and questions from reporters is "tell the truth." Even if your ethical code permits lying, he added, businesses "can't afford to lie. Get it out and get it open."
A company official who doesn't know an answer, he said, should say so and add what he's doing to try to find the information.
"There are no bad questions," Rafe said, "just bad answers."
He warned against trying to "duck the issue, deny it or let it fester." Executives should get all the bad news out "and get it told all at once."
Rafe, the author of several books on business communications, said news media have an obligation to their readers and viewers to get the information wherever they can.
If a company stonewalls, he said, the media will get the news bit by bit, usually from industry critics. And the headlines will flow day after day.
Officials who do their own talking shorten the process, Rafe said, and they can offer their side of an issue.
If a company has done wrong, he said, officials should acknowledge that fact up front and say what they are doing to correct the situation.
"Take your licks," Rafe said. "Tell everything you know."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB