NPR launches monthlong series on public relations, starting with evisceration of BP

Keep your radios tuned to your local NPR station.

On today’s “Morning Edition,” the media organization said:

“Public relations is very big business, and in the next month we’re going to look at the PR industry. Who does it? How it works? And the extent of its influence?”

It began with a report on BP—titled “BP: A Textbook Example Of How Not To Handle PR”—in which several PR pros eviscerated the oil company’s response to last year’s massive oil calamity in the Gulf of Mexico.

NPR reported:

“Current BP officials wouldn’t comment on the record for this story. But people familiar with the inside of BP’s crisis control effort and outside experts say early on, BP didn’t have a public relations strategy. It failed to communicate the three key messages the public needed to hear: That BP was accountable for the disaster, was deeply concerned about the harm it caused, and had a plan for what to do.”