Dealing with a crisis, Hello PR? We need your help…and how I dealt with my first crisis

As a hopefully soon-to-be PR practitioner, I came across a lot of facets of Public Relations. To my understanding Public Relations was not only talking to the media, writing media releases or having an interview on the national news, if your organization’s reputation is in jeopardy as the PR officer you had to get your organization out of the clear and that means out of the mud. I dreaded the position of public servants (working as an in-house practitioner you are a public servant sort of) as they have a lot of questions to answer and liability. I also understood the expression of ‘time is money’ used by businessmen but in my case it meant ‘time is credibility’ as you had to be quick in responding to allegations and stipulations. Working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs I learned also that you had to be diplomatic in all your dealings and that every word can be sensitive and misinterpreted so one must be careful. In other words, I was glad I was the Intern and did not have this much of a burden and responsibility on my shoulders. During my internship, I experienced a small crisis which I was glad I had the chance to.

So here how it goes after losing the 2015 elections, the Former President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Mr. Rajapaksa was accused of embezzling money in forms of investments in the Seychelles islands. These allegations were presented by Dr. Harsha Da Silva Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development published in one of Sri Lanka’s news website “Asian Mirror” with the titled article MR's Alleged Seychelles Assets To Be Investigated: WB Assistance Needed To Unearth Stolen Assets.

It was clear that these allegations were just stipulations and had no concrete facts as Sri Lankan investments could be investigated under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement which includes a Tax Information Exchange Component. Yes, I got to learn all of this. This means that if the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka wanted to inquire information and do further investigation, the Government of Seychelles is willing to accommodate them. In my opinion, the situation was a crisis as misunderstandings and wrong information could create tensions and spoil diplomatic relations which has taken years and manpower to foster between countries. So what do we do as a Press Attaché (PR Officer)

Step 1

Write a Letter to Dr. Harsha Da Silva illustrating Seychelles’ co-operation in helping out in investigations on behalf of the President and Government of Seychelles.

Step 2

Attend a meeting between the Ambassador of Sri Lanka and the Seychelles Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Step 3

Write a Press Release in response to these allegations however also to emphasize the nature Sri Lanka’s relationship between Seychelles which goes beyond politics.

My task for that day was to draft a press release after it was completed I had to send it to my boss to check, alter some of it and publish it. Writing press releases is my least favorite thing to do in PR actually in my internship since the format and the style is so different from what I have learned back at school. So imagine the painstaking task about writing it in the most diplomatic way possible because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

Lesson of the day: Don’t be overwhelmed, Think but think fast.