What matrix of factors shaped communication in the wake of the 2010 BP disaster?

1. What matrix of factors shaped communication in the wake of the 2010 BP disaster? Anasha Cummings Nick Helinski Tommie Sgueglia

2. Agenda for Today • BP’s Media Control • Why is BP so “Green” • BP’s Media Blackout • Alternative Means of Communication • Comedy as News Delivery • Parodies spreading Information • Media Digitalization • How information is getting out • The “Individual Investigator”

3. INSERT GROUP COLLAGE HERE

4. BP’s Oily Handsin the Communication World

5. What’s On Deck • BP’s Greenwashing History • Safety Comes First • Hayward’s PR response to Deepwater • Media Blackout • Deepwater Live Feed • A Brighter Future

6. BP’s Lean Mean Greenwashing Machine • 200 Million dollar rebranding campaign launched in 2000 under John Browne • “Our logo was launched in 2000, and was designed as a dramatic break with tradition. It is unlike any other energy identity, and symbolizes a number of things - from the living, organic form of a sunflower to the greatest source of energy...the sun itself.” -BP’s Website

7. BP’s Lean Mean Greenwashing Machine • "BP's re-branding as the "Beyond Petroleum" company is perhaps the ultimate co-optation of environmentalists' language and message… BP's suggestion that producing more natural gas is somehow akin to global leadership is preposterous. Make that Beyond Preposterous. – Kenny Bruno, Journalist

8. Going Solar? I Think Not • BP purchased Solarex in 1999 for $45 million • Not advertised was the $26.5 billion purchase of ARCO to expand it’s oil portfolio. • "Pretentious stuff for a company serving mainly oil and gas, with just a sliver of solar on the side. Make that Beyond Pretentious.“ – Kenny Bruno, Journalist

9. We are the Good Guys •  'Everyone thinks we are bad guys. . . . We can't just start out announcing we are good guys, so what we have to announce is we have finally realized we were bad guys and we are going to be better.' . . . It makes it much easier for critics and the public to buy into the image of the industry as good guys after you have spent awhile in purgatory. - Peter Sandman, BP PR adviser

10. The Green Oilman’s Final Run • 2004 – Propane Market Manipulation • Fined $373 million • 2005 – Texas City Refinery Explosion • 15 dead, 150 injured • 2006 – Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill • 267,000 gallons of oil • 2007 – Lake Michigan Dumping Permit • 54% more ammonia, 35% more suspended solids

11. “Dawn of a New Day” • Tony Hayward takes over in 2007 and claims: • "to refocus the company and change the culture, emphasizing safety.” • 2007 recorded unsatisfactory profits • 7,5000 job cuts and $4 billion in expenses • 2008 – Additional $3 billion cuts • 2009 - Hayward received a 40% pay increase for his efforts and improved company performance

12. Hayward’s Safety Hiccups • 2008 – Atlantis oil rig infractions • 2009 – Helicopter crash off North shore killing eight contractors • 2009 – Gas line rupture in Alaska • 2009 – Six acres of Alaskan tundra covered in “small” spill

13. 2010 Deepwater Horizon • Cost cutting was center of attention • Investigation showed: • Cheaper well casing used • Saved $7 million • Did no secure the casing hanger • Would have required several days work • Spending $1 million per day to use platform • At time of spill - $29 million over budget, several weeks behind schedule

14. Deepwater in the Media • "This is not our accident, but it's our responsibility,“ • “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.“ -Tony Hayward

15. Media Blackout • Journalists have continually been denied access to clean up areas • Adam Dillion refused to talk to media but was fired from BP shortly after as being a liability • Came across equations believed to be related to dispersants • Claim that efforts were centered around saving money rather than environmental restoration

16. Media Blackout • “BP has been to allow as much access as possible to media and other parties without compromising the work we are engaged on or the safety of those to whom we give access.” – David Nicholas, BP spokesperson

17. Deepwater Live Feed • Footage has been available since the spill • 23 days later Congress required BP to make video feed public • “Congress and the American public have the right to know what is happening in real time, so that they can understand and react to the situation as it develops,“ – Edward Markey, (D) MA

18. Looking To a Brighter Future • Who’s In Charge? • A defined chain of command • Hands Off Approach • Too Much Responsibility? • Government action

19. Questions

20. Conclusion • BP’s image in the media is a constant game • Major efforts to control what of their efforts are being made public • If they claim the accident is not their responsibility, why are they being so secretive? • “Their ad campaign polishing the corporate image is going off like clockwork. I wish they would do a better job of actually addressing the economic damage to my state and small-business owners.“ – Kathy Castor, (D) FL

21. Sources: • http://www.infowars.com/bp-commands-government-to-strangle-off-media-coverage-of-oil-gusher/ • http://www.mediaite.com/online/is-bp-hiding-dead-wildlife-from-media-coverage/ • http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/inside_bps_media_blockade.php • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060300848.html • http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/18/national/main6496610.shtml • http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BP_and_Greenwashing • http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tony_Hayward#cite_note-0 • http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9028307&contentId=7019193 • http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993980,00.html • http://www.capitolnewsconnection.org/news/look-bps-8000-other-spills-1990 000 • http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/6099278/part_2/the-real-villain-of-bp.thtml • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7911546/BP-oil-spill-the-rise-and-fall-of-Tony-Hayward.html • http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/04/nation/la-na-0504-oil-spill-20100504 • http://www.bnet.com/blog/clean-energy/bp-8217s-history-of-oil-spills-and-accidents-same-strategy-different-day/1768 • http://gulfcoastmaritime.com/the-gulf-coast/district-court-sets-ground-rules-for-bps-communications-with-oil-spill-claimants/2587/ • http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/bp-coated-sludge-after-years-greenwashing • http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/112005/mokhiber.html • http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bp-pays-373m-to-end-investigations-in-us-397975.html • http://www.petersandman.com/col/deepwater4.htm • http://gulfcoastmaritime.com/the-gulf-coast/district-court-sets-ground-rules-for-bps-communications-with-oil-spill-claimants/2587/ • http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37877926/ns/business-oil_and_energy/ • http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38818600/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/ • http://www.davidhenderson.com/2010/05/01/crisis-communications-online-during-an-oil-spill/ • http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/27/louisiana-bp-oil-spill-coastguard • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-stepanian/bps-greenwashing-cant-cle_b_581253.html • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/7-secrets-bp-doesnt-want_n_563102.html#s87354&title=Looking_Out_For • http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1953/1/ • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8040468.stm • http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/recapping-on-bps-long-history-of-greenwashing/blog/26025 • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106673.html