Guide to reputationmanagement

Dispute Resolution Guide from Wright HassallJune 2015wrighthassall.co.uk

WRIGHTHASSALL

Guide to reputationmanagement

Benjamin Franklin said that many years ago. It is now more true than ever butmight be rephrased: only one bad review or social media post to lose it.

The changing media environment leaves a company having to deal with a widevariety of publications; from the traditional print and broadcast media; to instantsocial media and dedicated review sites.

All businesses can therefore be subject to threats to their reputation; indeed arecent survey confirmed 75% of businesses questioned thought that onlinereviews, comments and forum posts were important to the financial andreputational status of their business; and in the last year alone 51% of businessessay they had been affected by unsubstantiated online reviews or targeted by trolls.

Added to that any genuine comments or interests; reputation management is anarea that any pro-active business can no longer ignore.

The threats can come from a variety of sources including:

• allegations from competitors;

• articles in the mainstream print media;

• adverse television or radio coverage;

• criticism – justified or not, by apparent customers or reviewers online.

The prevalence of different types of media means that “a one size fits all” approachto bad publicity or simple ignoring such publications will no longer suffice.

Instead proper planning before the event is imperative given the pressure upon abusiness to respond quickly and promptly when an incident occurs and thebenefits of being able to react before publication or quickly after publication areenormous.

It takes many, many good deeds to build a reputation,and only one bad one to lose it”

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Note: Survey statistics drawn from Igniyte survey conducted by OnePoll.

Dispute Resolution Guide from Wright HassallJune 2015

Companies’ internal policies if properly prepared and maintained, and then followedthrough, can make an enormous difference.

Many businesses already have certain internal policies however policies with regard tosocial media, crisis management and communication and media handling are policiesthat can easily be missed but if followed through can help deal with an issue.

The most important is dealing with a crisis and following through a plan at the start. Awell prepared, thought out plan can either minimise any damage from publication oreven turn a publication into a positive going forward.

The advance planning is critical given that media outlets will demand an immediatecomment from anyone in the organisation; all too often hasty ill-thought outcomments are made by one individual which then come to be portrayed as the view ofthe business and in turn are damaging and set the business off on the wrong foot.

The plan needs to cover the role of frontline staff members, management and the roleof outside advisers.

Similar plans put in place recently have allowed a client of ours to deal with the falloutfrom one off issues leading to reporting in the national press; and preventing thebroadcast of allegations on the BBC television.

We can help you put these plans in place.

Pre-Planning

Crisis Management

Guide to reputationmanagement

There is no such thing as bad publicity”

Before Publication

Anyone who has ever said that has notconsidered the modern media environment.Dealing with adverse publicity beforepublication is by far the best approach, either toprevent it being published or to minimise itsimpact. Generally this opportunity will onlyarise with the traditional print and broadcastmedia.

OFCOM and other guidance means that oftenthe business will usually be aware of adversepublicity before its publication. That can eithercome about because a business is at the centreof an event and knows it will be reported andthat they will be presented badly, as a client ofours recently knew would occur at theconclusion of an inquest into a death, oralternatively because the business isapproached for comment.

If a proper plan has been put in place thenresponding to these can be simple.

The following general rules are key:

• Identify who will have responsibility fordecision making and contact with the media;

• Ensure wherever possible that there is onesingle voice and point of contact for allenquiries and responses;

• Communicate internally to all staff how they

should respond if approached for anycomment;

• Consider taking the initiative with apublication of your own either independentlyor utilising the media outlet in question.

Doing much of that necessitates engaging withthe media organisation contacting you.Traditionally many businesses adopted the “nocomment” and slamming the door in the face ofa journalist approach. Whilst occasionallydeclining to comment may be the right stance,generally a business is denying itself an obviousopportunity to respond to publicity; to seek toinfluence publication or at least secure somevoice in an article which can then be built uponor, in the best case scenario, to persuade anorganisation its publication is flawed and not topublish, at least in that form.

The approach to be taken with each mediaoutlet will vary. Their approaches varysignificantly and history of dealing with suchorganisations help. We ourselves have dealtrecently with, amongst others, the BBC, Channel4, Channel 5, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, DailyTelegraph and the Daily Mail. Each business hasa different appetite for risk and the rightresponse is cruicial.

How to RespondWhere possible, response of some substance should be provided. Occasionally it isinadvisable until all facts are known if a critical piece of information is missing, butotherwise co-operation and providing information is worthwhile. Information can beprovided on a confidential – not for publication basis or on an open basis that thebusiness asks to be published. Providing there is clarity in approach either of these canbe worthwhile.

Generally broadcasters provide the OFCOM guidance which in effect allows for a right ofreply to avoid a party being unjustly treated. Traditional print media follow a similarapproach and we would strongly advise taking the initiative in most scenarios and puttingthe businesses’ case forward direct to the publisher.

Dispute Resolution Guide from Wright HassallJune 2015

Nowadays, with newspapers hosting articles onwebsites, publications can linger for a longerperiod of time. Equally those on websites,forums and social media are also available toview for a long period of time. Considerationshould be given to removing these to minimisethe damage. Sometimes that can be seen asheavy handed and a judgement call must bemade as to whether the publicity arising fromthe removal, is worth suffering for removal.Generally it will be if properly managed as partof a co-ordinated strategy. Even whilsttargeting a removal the above strategiescontinue to apply. There are a variety ofmechanisms for pursuing online publishersincluding revealing the identify of allegedapparently anonymous publishers. Once againhowever speed is of the essence.

Securing a retraction or an apology, publicisingit and avoiding further publications is critical.Advice and specialist input in preparing for sucheventualities and then dealing with them whenthey occur is the key. You are successful in yourbusiness because you understand it, deal with itand are the best people to provide that service.In almost no circumstance however is thebusiness the best party to respond to and dealwith defamation, criticism of a business andmalicious publicity.

Dealing withonline publications

Can I stop this beingpublished?That is the question we are most commonlyasked and unfortunately the answer generally is“no”. Whilst it can seem greatly unfair to abusiness on the end of malicious publicationsmore often than not the law gives preference toa right of free speech and will not grantinjunctions to restrain publication. That is not tosay that they are impossible. The celebrity useof the so-called super-injunction is well known.Whilst injunctions can therefore rarely beobtained they are worthy of consideration.

Even where publication cannot be restrainedhowever, a positive open and frank responseshould be given.

After PublicationOnce the cat is out of the bag then approachesmust diverge; there is the strict legal approachof Letters of Claim where there are grounds foralleging defamation or otherwise and possiblelegal claims for damages; removal of posts;securing retractions, apologies etc that shouldbe investigated and followed if appropriate.

Every bit as important though is the secondapproach which is the ongoing mediamanagement implementing the businesses’policies. Traditionally lawyers have seen thecourts as giving the answer to a business’sproblems when attacked. The speed at whichpublication can be spread nowadays means thecourts, which can deliver judgments anddamages, can be too slow to avoid damage ontheir own. Active media management alongsidetraditional legal remedies will greatly improvethe result.

Guide to reputationmanagement

We can offer you the specialist assistance that you need.

For an example of how a business that tried to deal with it on its own canget it so badly wrong, one only needs to recall a Blackpool hotel who builtin, legally, to their terms and conditions, a fine for customers who left badreviews and who then imposed that on customers when a bad review wasleft online. The resulting media firestorm meant one negative reviewwhich needed to be dealt with, but would have had minimal impact,became a national media story and did damage to that business it willnever recover from. We can help you avoid this.

For further information please speak to a member of our team.

Dispute Resolution Guide from Wright HassallJune 2015

Meet the team

Information correct as at June 2015

This guide contains material for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Everyeffort is made to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date but users should always seek specific legal advice before taking,or refraining from, an action or relying on the legal information given here.

Daniel JenningsPartnerdaniel.jennings@wrighthassall.co.uk01926 884629

Sarah PerryPartner and Head of Dispute Resolutionsarah.perry@wrighthassall.co.uk01926 880727

Jennifer RhindParalegaljennifer.rhind@wrighthassall.co.uk01926 880771

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