A Critical Public Relations Approach to Crisis Communication and Management A Case Study of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Disappearance

This book proposes a critical public relations approach to analyzing crisis communication with Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370) disappearance (2014-2018) as a case study. It examines the discursive process of Malaysia’s crisis response and image building, tracing Malaysia Airlines during the immediate response and the Malaysian establishment until the official suspension of the underwater search. The study features a critical discourse analysis of 84 national media texts and 85 response statements, focusing on three aspects: the national media representations of Malaysia’s image, the national carrier and the government’s rhetorical strategies of delivering stances and actions, and the dynamic process of image reconstruction and national recovery. The present project contributes to the current research area by integrating both linguistic and public relations perspectives, and more importantly, by highlighting the ideological impact instead of merely behavioral effectiveness in modern communication research. Target readers may find their interest in corporate crisis communication, critical inquiry about political public relations, and the MH370 incident in general.

 MH370 AS A NATIONAL PR CASE: CONTROVERSY AND CHALLENGES

 1.1 Introduction

1.2 Background of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearance

1.3 Outline of the incident: Critical moments of the MH370 crisis

1.4 Malaysia’s government image, patronage politics, and airline governance

1.5 Initial media representations: A cooperative yet nonprofessional or inefficient searcher

1.6 MH370 controversy over the incident: Professionalism, transparency, and diplomacy

1.7 Influence of MH370 controversy: Malaysia in PR challenges

1.9 Research aims and research questions

1.10 Outline of the research

CHAPTER 2

 PR RESEARCH ON NATIONAL CRISES: NATIONAL IMAGE AND CRISIS RESPONSE

 2.1 Introduction

2.2 (Political) public relations, key stakeholders and social agents

2.3 An overview of national image

      2.3.1 Definition of national image

      2.3.2 Fundamental aspects of national image

      2.3.3 Notions of and differences between image, reputation and identity

2.4 PR issues for a nation: National crisis, image and recovery

      2.4.1 Crisis and national crisis in the PR context

      2.4.2 National image as one crucial PR concept

      2.4.3 Crisis happening, image rebuilding and national recovery

               2.4.3.1 Introduction to 3Rs: Resolving, responding and recovering

               2.4.3.2 Crisis response on the negative side: “blame game

               2.4.3.3 Crisis response on the positive side: “leadership image

               2.4.3.4 Crisis resolution towards national recovery

2.5 Previous studies of airline incidents as (national) crises

      2.5.1 Contemporary politics: Conspiracy theories as instances of disaster response

      2.5.2 Journalism practice: News report as a reflection of media and national differences

      2.5.3 Image repair: PR strategies in (national) airline crisis communication

2.6 MH370 (and Malaysia) as a case of crisis communication and management

2.7 MH370 and PR perspective: Crisis response and image repair as material action

      2.7.1 Crisis recognition and response as part of communication process

      2.7.2 National image repair and situational crisis communication

     2.8.1 Introduction to Critical Discourse Studies

      2.8.2 CDS research on national image and crisis representation

      2.8.3 Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for discourse and social change

2.9 An integrated approach to analysing MH370 crisis response and image rebuilding

      2.9.1 A historical review of critical investigation into PR research

      2.9.2 Integrating PR and CDS I: Framing national crisis through media discourse

      2.9.3 Integrating PR and CDS II: Negotiating response strategies in institutional discourse

      2.9.4 Integrating PR and CDS III: Identifying ideological perspectives of management practice

      2.9.5 Towards a critical PR approach to analysing crisis response and image rebuilding

CHAPTER 3

 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA

 3.1 Introduction

3.3 Introduction to research methodology

3.4 Systemic Functional Grammar

3.5 Transitivity

      3.5.1 Introduction

      3.5.2 Material process

      3.5.3 Mental process

      3.5.4 Relational process

      3.5.5 Verbal process

      3.5.6 Behavioural process

      3.5.7 Summary

3.6 Appraisal

      3.6.1 Introduction

      3.6.2 Attitude

               3.6.2.1 Affect

               3.6.2.2 Judgement

               3.6.2.3 Appreciation

               3.6.3.1 Contraction

               3.6.3.2 Expansion

      3.6.4 Summary

3.7 Social actor

      3.7.1 Introduction

      3.7.2 Inclusion and exclusion

      3.7.3 Activation and passivation

      3.7.4 Genericisation and specification

      3.7.5 Nomination and categorisation

      3.7.6 Summary

3.8 Crisis response strategies

      3.8.1 Introduction

      3.8.2 Denial posture

      3.8.3 Diminishment posture

      3.8.4 Rebuilding posture

      3.8.5 Bolstering posture

      3.8.6 Restructuring posture

      3.8.7 Summary

3.9 Data collection

      3.9.1 Time of production

      3.9.2 Data sources

      3.9.3 Data list

      3.9.4 Data collection process

3.9.5 Data coding and selection criteria

CHAPTER 4

 CRISIS FRAMING AND IMAGE RESTORATION: NATIONAL MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF MALAYSIA’S IMAGE IN THE MH370 DISAPPEARANCE

 4.1 Introduction

4.2 Period One: Immediate response

      4.2.1 National media representations of MAS-related social actors

               4.2.1.1 Captain Zaharie: A pilot-in-chief, a “father” and friend

               4.2.1.3 MAS: A disciplined airline company and an efficient crisis communicator

               4.2.1.4 Image restoration practice in Period I: Framing pilot stories and airline behaviour

      4.2.2 National media representations

Dr. Huabin Wang is currently a postdoctoral researcher from School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of English, City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include critical discourse studies, crisis communication, and public relations in general. As a critical discourse analyst, Dr. Wang will spare no effort to promote a critical public relations approach to political and corporate communication studies during his lifelong academic career.