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greater use of the internet and intranet systems
and are going beyond simply communicating
with publics to a point where they are
trying to develop relationships with them.
Many believe the attacks caused companies
to revisit their crisis communication plans.
In October, some predicted future business
might be conducted in a more serious mood
with fewer jokes and much more emphasis
on patriotism. March responses appear to
validate that this is happening within some
organizations.
There were those who, in the October
survey, did not anticipate change resulting
from September 11. As one said then, ‘once
people get past the horror of 5,000 deaths,
the crisis will pass and things will settle down
again’. Other October respondents thought
the attacks might impact what is communicated,
but not how messages are disseminated.
Results of the March survey find fewer
sceptics. A few March respondents thought, as
one subject reported, ‘it’s pretty much back to
business as usual except for those companies
that were devastated by the attacks’.
However, the majority disagreed and suggested
the events of September 11 had changed
how their company communicates.
RQ2: Do senior-level corporate public relations
executives believe the events of
September 11, 2001 have had any impact
on their organization’s public relations and
communications function
As Table 20.2 reports, the study found exceptionally
strong agreement that the September
11, 2001 terrorist attacks have impacted the
corporate PR and communication function. In
October, 88 per cent agreed with this suggestion
while 92 per cent agreed in March.
Relative agreement was higher in October
given a larger number of responses in the
‘strongly agree’ category.
The October survey found 88 per cent of
the respondents thought the events of
September 11 had an immediate impact on
their company’s PR and communication function.
This figure increased to 92 per cent in
March, but the latter survey’s mean score was
slightly lower on this item because the intensity
of agreement was not as strong as it had
been five months earlier. The need to communicate
quickly to employees and other
strategic target audiences appears to be
significant here. Results to both survey waves
discovered a number of respondents indicating
the terrorist attacks provided PR and communication
functions with opportunities to
take on roles that CEOs and other executives
now view as more important and more central
to organizational success. Following the
attacks, communication and PR functions
now appear to be responsible for more
Table 20.2 Responses of senior-level, US PR and corporate communication professionals to the
question: ‘Do you agree the events of September 11, 2001, have had any impact on your
organization’s public relations and communication function’ (%)
Strongly Agree Uncertain/ Disagree Strongly Mean
agree No opinion disagree
Responses from survey
of October 2001 25 63 6 3 3 4.03
Responses from survey
of March 2002 9 83 4 4 0 3.96
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors