By HH Mohrmen
The evolving scenario in Meghalaya has proved one thing – the crisis management system of both the state and the central government has failed. It has missed the first phase of the crisis management strategy by not being able to foresee the coming of the second wave of the pandemic. The State Government is making a bigger blunder in its response to the crisis by not giving due importance to public relations in dealing with the crisis. The role of public relations in responding to a crisis is crucial because its task is to develop messages that explain the crisis and the response to it so that the messaging reaches the public in an unambiguous, empathetic capsule to enable them to respond to the crisis.
Anyone with even a little understanding of crisis management would know the public relations is critical to crisis management. Communication both within and outside the government is like a lamp post which provides light to those in need of some ray of hope during a crisis like the pandemic. The person in charge of the task shoulders a very heavy responsibility because he is the bridge between the public and the government.
Earlier the job of spokespersons was easy, because they talk to the media person through whom the message is disseminated to the public. But with the advent of the electronic media, people can see the gestures and even read the facial expressions of the government spokesperson. These are non-verbal and unintended signs which tend to send out the wrong messages. At a time of crisis, wrong messaging whether intentional or otherwise is the last thing the government should be sending to the public.
In the competition to reach to their audience faster, media outlets are even using social media platforms to livestream press conference which makes the task of the spokesperson even more challenging. In the circumstance, the spokesperson should not only be someone who is well verse with the subject at hand but should also have communication skills. The Director of Health Services can only share basic information about the pandemic. The responsibility to inform the public about the policies and actions taken by the government to tackle the pandemic is the responsibility of the government spokesperson. Unfortunately, many a times it looks as if the spokesperson comes to press briefings with little or no preparation.
To avoid sending wrong messages it is important to have a written script handy which is often neglected by the concern authorities. That is the first and the most important lesson in any public relations exercise, more so during a crisis. A fatal flaw of the Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya and the spokesperson of the MDA Government is that he is verbose and gets carried away. He goes beyond his brief. Perhaps that is because he has no training in Public Relations (PR) and is not mindful of his gestures and facial expressions. This was what let him down in the recent imbroglio. It is the main cause of the skirmish between him and TUR which has now escalated to a war words between the government and the farmers and hawkers. The impression gained is that the Dy CM is callous and uncaring and lacks seriousness. And that he even jokes about people’s misfortune. The advice he offers to the poor to avoid eating meat and eat only vegetables, which in other words could have meant to reduce the expenditure on food was ill-time and unnecessary. Who is the Dy CM to decide people’s palate?
His gross mishandling of the job of government spokesperson is the prime reason for the melee that followed. The primary duty of the spokesperson is to help mitigate the crisis but he has instead aggravated the predicament. The recent fracas with the leader of TUR is a classic case of a failed public relations which in turn affects the government’s crisis management strategy.
There are two counter arguments to the Dy CM’s recent brawl the leader of TUR. First of all, it is about the right to criticise the government which is a constitutional right of any citizen or group in a democracy. Pressure groups are part and parcel of any democratic system of government. They say the four pillars of democracy are the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the media. But pressure groups are like walls which help echo or sound public opinion back to the government. There is also a saying that walls have ears. The Dy CM’s conflict with pressure groups and his questioning of their role is something that should have been avoided especially in times of a crisis like this one.
There are many ways of responding to the question that TUR raised. The last thing the Dy CM should have done is get into a confrontation. The seasoned politician that he is, the Dy CM should not have forgotten the one important rule in politics – which is to win people over and build his support base and to avoid creating needless controversies and enemies.
Perhaps it is worth reminding the Dy CM of the saying, ‘Politics is interested in you even if you are not interested in politics.’ It may sometimes seem as if people are not taking part in a democratic process, but different people take part in politics in different ways. Some take the role of a pressure groups, some write letters to the editor, still some file RTI queries and some simply cast their votes once in every five years. This is how people involve themselves in the democratic process. It is not necessary that they should all contest elections.
Challenging them to contest the election an infantile reaction. It is like a child who is defeated in a game and then calls his opponent to come fight him at home where he knows he can easily beat them. Election is the safe space or a cocoon (if you like) for the politician. They know it needs a lot of money to contest elections which leaders of pressure groups do not have. In fact, politicians have purposely made contesting an election an expensive affair which only the rich can indulge in.
Hence one will every time hear politicians challenging leaders of the pressure group to join the fray because they know that it is beyond their reach to contest any election. But this can change if the people of the state come to their senses and do not allow money to be the criterion for winning elections. It will change when people vote for a person not because of their bank balances and assets but for their educational qualifications, their experiences in public service and more importantly their character.
Coming back to the government and the management of its PR, it can be concluded that in the present government there is much left to be desired. The role of the government spokesperson is crucial because the public faith on the government largely depends on him. He is the one who gives the public confidence through correct messaging and assures them that government is handling the crisis well. The public trust on the government has unfortunately slipped from the Dy CM’s hands.
That this happened at a time when the government desperately needs the support of the public in combating the second wave of the pandemic and also its post-crisis management, is unfortunate. The fight against the pandemic will not end with the fall in numbers of COVID-19 cases. When the number of cases fall, the government will have to move to the third phase of crisis-management step which is managing the post-crisis scenario.
The next challenge the government will have to face is to get the maximum number of people in the state vaccinated. This will be a challenging task because there is already a huge vaccine hesitancy among a big chunk of the population. There are those who out rightly refuse to take vaccination. Getting the public vaccinated is not going to be a cake walk; the government will need to have clear policy to convince people to take the jabs.
In such a situation the government will not only need a public relations strategy that is effective but more importantly a spokesperson with good PR skills. The government cannot afford to fail in getting the entire population vaccinated by the end of this year, otherwise the consequences will be too high a price to pay.
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