Public relations can be best form of defence in business crises

Danai Chanchaochai, CEO of DC Consultants, said that the most important role of PR specialists was perception management and giving a warning signal to companies for negative indicators and misunder-standings perceived by stakeholders.

Speaking yesterday at a seminar: "Public Relations in Crisis Situations" Danai said: "When multinationals threaten media or the public with legal action, they tend to rely on their deep resources, including money, skill and know-how, to win market share and manage public opinion by using communications tools.

"However, most of those companies lack a basic knowledge about PR and they don't know that the media cannot be controlled or interfered with," Danai said.

PR should be the best communications tool firms can use to promote good understanding with the public and also establish win-win situations involving disputes with the media.

Thepchai Yong, acting director of Thai PBS public service television, noted the case of a giant multinational retailer filing a lawsuit against the editor and a columnist of a business paper and seeking damages of Bt200 million for harming its image in an article.

The group also filed a defamation suit against a committee member of the Thai Chamber of Commerce seeking damages of Bt1 billion - a total sum of not less than Bt1.2 billion.

"What the three defendants had done was present information based on facts and criticised the way the company worked. They were acting as responsible news media whose duty is to protect the public interest. They had no intention of defaming the retail giant at all," he said.

"This lawsuit was a means of attacking media representatives simply doing their job with an outspokenly critical approach.

"We believe that the objective of this unreasonable lawsuit was to use a legal mechanism to block media criticism rather than trying to get money to recover damages," Thepchai said.

Wanchai Wongmeechai, vice president on press freedom for the TJA, said the local media was doing its job responsibly in conveying criticism and facts raised by including suppliers, traditional retailers and the general public, who had been affected by giant multinational retailers.

"If those companies believe that the criticism was due to a misunderstanding, they can object and provide the right information to correct it. That way we can talk and disputes will not occur. There is no point in just taking legal action to threaten us, when we can work it out amicably," Wanchai said.

Prof Wanchai Wattanasap, an academic specialising in good governance, said that negotiation was the best means of dealing with disputes. Even though it was often difficult to bring all parties together, it was essential to start talking to try to arrive at the truth, to restore trust, and to bring justice to bear.

Parichart Satapitanont, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Communication Arts, said that ethical manners in media and business organisations should be the way to find a solution in settling any problem or dispute.

Nowadays, many business organisations applied the same methods politicians used in dealing with the media, both in ethical and unethical ways.

Preeda Tiasuwan, chairman of Pranda Jewellery, said that in the business sector, companies needed to be concerned not only about economic dimensions, but also social factors when planning to invest in new overseas markets.