Delving into the PR World - The most enriching journey as an intern - Hectic but Worth It!

Greetings everyone,

My last post was on the tasks that filled up my third week as an intern at Medine Limited, including the 'Laying of the Foundation Stone of the new Casela & Leisure Park' event which took place and was a rather successful one.

However after the event, many articles were printed in various newspapers and each one had its own version of relating the event mostly emphasizing on clarifications Prime Minister gave concerning other issues rather than the event itself. Only articles that I had cut out for document filing purposes focused mainly on the event. 

Also, I vividly remember that one of the articles had its headline/title wrongly quoted as per what the Prime Minister had said. More specifically there was a mix up in how the Prime Minister had delivered a particular saying in his own words. In short, he had rephrased if not paraphrased the saying from "La bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blanche colombe" which means "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", to "La bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blancheur du lys" implying that what is pure cannot be tainted. 

Below is the article which was published, followed by the preciseness part which had to be published to rectify the mistake:

Also, during my last week at Medine Limited, a rather serious incident took place at the Casela Nature & Leisure Park where an intern of the Safari Adventures was bitten by one of the tigers and the man of 42 had to be taken urgently to the clinic Darné. Graeme Bristow, the director of Safari Adventures stated that as he was not on the premises at this particular moment, he cannot give better clarifications as to how these events took place. Mr Bristow further said that never has such an incident happened ever before. However, when asked, Mr Mooteelall Sookram mentioned that his superior - a tamer - who asked him to help him. Mr Graeme Bristow firmly stated that for an intern who was employed only 4 days ago, he had no business being so close to the cages and most definitely did not possess required experience to approach tigers. 

However after the incident, the article published clarified that Mr Mooteelall Sookram will keep his job, receive his salary as he should, and received the best medical treatment. Additionally Safari Adventures noted that they would bear all the medical expenses and the superior given a severe warning, would be fired if not responsible in the future. 

This incident not only allowed me to witness a moment of crisis but also showed how communication through articles conveyed messages to re-assure the public and the family of the victim that this incident was taken care of in the fairest way possible. Besides, the way Safari Adventures, its director and Medine Limited reacted to the incident simply reminded me of how we as future PR professionals have been taught to manage issues and crisis management as follows:


1. Tell it all and tell it fast: 

which means using open, frank and speedy communication as it always proves to be the best strategy to minimize damage to corporate image and key relationships, hence enabling organisations to retain the initiative and maintain credibility. Also always remember never to say “No Comment”. 

2. Show you care and ensure clear, unblocked lines of communication:

this refers to the promptness with which the media should have access to information/spokespeople and the facilities to dossier their stories.

All of the above is easily summarized via Burton's crisis action plan whereby he lists out how one can manage such events in logical steps:

• Assemble your forces
• Establish the facts
• Prepare a statement
• Inform appropriate people
• Notify next of kin
• Take care of media queries
• Handle media on-site
• Organize employee interview(s)
• Do not place blame and most certainly do not speculate
• Manage other notifications

As a whole be as transparent as possible and your organisation will not be tainted.

Well this is it for my last post; how time flew by and came the time to say Good Bye to Medine Limited and to the most inspiring colleagues still feels unreal. But as the saying goes "All good things must come to an end". Yet, I strongly believe that the end's only just a short break from what's coming next - which would have to be even better, if not best !

On a different note, I just hope that you've all enjoyed your placements, acquired as much experience and knowledge as possible. Thereupon, I wish everyone good luck for their future endeavours in the PR field.

Warmest regards,
Geetika Boyjoo
Charles Telfair Institute (CTI) 
Curtin ID: 15172402