Hey BP, Catch a Clue from Letterman

June 10th, 2010. By Hunter West

The BP oil spill has galvanized public opinion on not only the concept of drilling for a non-renewable resource in the midst of another non-renewable resource (water), but the responsibilities of those charged with the drilling process. 

Now the public is asking another question: why are BP, and their federal partners in the effort to contain the spill, being so allegedly secretive? 

The New York Times yesterday went public with a number of examples of attempted censorship of the news media trying to cover the spill. The oil spill, and the efforts to contain it, is easily the biggest news story of the year and one of the biggest environmental disasters of all time. 

Naturally, the media wants to cover it. America is hungry for details. Americans—especially those living in, or near the affected area, want to know just how bad things are. The rest of the world and anyone around the globe with any sensitivity to the environment and eco systems are also galvanized by this story. 

And yet, there appears to be an effort to control what goes out. As The New York Times details, various media outlets have been stymied from filming from the air, or from the ground, in various instances. BP denies this—as do the various agencies that have set up command centers in BP-owned buildings (isn’t THAT convenient…). Last month Southern Seaplane out of Louisiana wanted to take a photographer from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans up over the Gulf for a photo shoot. 

Southern Seaplane reports they were questioned intensively, and then denied. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was apparently also part of that decision—and the agency has since revised its flight restrictions over the Gulf. The principles that answer for the spill say there are no restrictions now like the kind that grounded the Southern Seaplane flight last month. 

Oh, but there are. Just last week, according to The New York Times, Senator Bill Nelson from Florida attempted to bring a small group of journalists along with him on a trip he had arranged to take through the Gulf on a Coast Guard vessel. The Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the journalists.

But then the night before the trip, the Department of Homeland Security booted the journalists off the trip. 

“They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same ‘federal asset,’ ” said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. No further elaboration was forthcoming. 

The Department of Homeland Security? 

What a load of crap. 

Yes, this is a war. It’s a war on the environment—on birds, and fish and plant life. On people, and their livelihoods. The oil spill is a huge disaster, and shame on anyone—BP, the Coast Guard, the FAA, the Department of Homeland Security—anyone, who thinks this epic battle warrants the muzzlement of the media. 

No one is getting shot at. If the media comes and gets in the way of the clean up, then manage them. But don’t deny them. Deny them, and you deny the American people. 

The first thing BP should have done, after they called whatever oil-clean-up cavalry needed to come to their rescue, was to hire a public relations consultant. A good one. One that doesn’t believe in spin. One that realizes that a funny thing happens when you try to hide something, when you operate in a vacuum: suspicion, rumor, and innuendo. 

Transparency can be nasty too. But it breeds respect. Without transparency, all those images of the embattled BP CEO standing on a beach and saying to America that he’s sorry for what happened, rings hollow. 

Look at the lessons learned from the Tiger Woods and David Letterman sagas last year. Both are public figures and wildly admired by their fans. Both men had a secret. But the shelf life of Letterman’s transgressions was limited by his honesty. He went on the air and in an utter act of transparent contrition, told it like it was. 

He didn’t wait for a gossip rag to rat him out. He came clean, on-air, before anyone could spin it for him. It was a masterful stroke. 

Tiger Woods, on the other hand, disappeared—leaving the media, the golf world, or his fans to speculate. Rumor happened. Then the details started to trickle out. By the time Woods finally faced the cameras in a controlled press conference where no one was allowed to ask questions, the damage was already done. We already knew, thanks to leaks and Twitters and whispers from his alleged mistresses and their agents. 

Letterman looked like a champion. Human, mind you. He screwed up. No one denies that. He doesn’t deny that. But compare his case to that of Tiger Woods. Two tales of personal failings, two very different ways of handling it. Letterman came out on top. Woods looked like the fool. 

Woods’ public relations people hopefully learned from that debacle, as should those in the BP camp. 

The oil spill is bad enough. America is already angry. But hey BP, you can help manage that anger by being absolutely transparent with your dealings with regard to the oil spill. Let the media come. Answer their questions and treat them respectfully. Don’t try to hide things, and don’t try to control the spin because you can’t. You can’t control the media. And I guarantee you that if you piss off the media; the bad vibe will go right to the American people. 

On the other hand, treat the media with respect and value their right to report, and that vibe will also get back to the public at large. 

And BP, you need all the good vibes you can get right now…

Tags: BP, BP Oil Spill

This was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Environment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.