2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill

Butler University

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Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Undergraduate Scholarship

4-22-2011

Communicating During Crisis: A Case Study of the 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill
Aubrey N. Villines
Butler University

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Recommended Citation
Villines, Aubrey N., "Communicating During Crisis: A Case Study of the 2010 BP Gulf Oil Spill" (2011). Undergraduate Honors Thesis
Collection. Paper 90.

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References……………………………………………………………………………………….76

Communicating During Crisis 6
List of Tables
Table 1: Sources Cited or Quoted Within Articles…………………………………………….38
Table 2: Topics Addressed in Articles…………………………………………………………40
Table 3: Primary Topics Addressed in Articles………………………………………………..42
Table 4: BP’s Response to the Crisis …………………………………………………………43
Table 5: Presence of Unethical Crisis Response Strategies by Stages ……………………… 45
Table 6: Presence of Unethical Crisis Response Strategies by Source ………………………46
Table 7: Chi Square Results-Significant Difference in BP’s Crisis Management Responses...46
Table 8: Newspaper Source Articles Published In ………………………………………...…72
Table 9: Month Article Published …………………………………………………………….72
Table 10: Publication of Articles during Different Stages of the Crisis ……………………..72
Table 11: Section of the Newspaper Article Published In ……………………………………73
Table 12: Page Number Article Located On …………………………………………………73
Table 13: Word Count of Articles …………………………………………………………….74
Table 14: Chi Square Results-Significant Difference in Sources Cited or Quoted …………..74
Table 15: Chi Square Results-Significant Difference in Topics Addressed Within Articles …74
Table 16: Chi Square Results-Significant Difference in Primary
According to Hearit in Crisis Management by Apology, an ethical apology must be truthful, sincere, timely, voluntary, address all stakeholders, and is performed in an appropriate context
(Hearit 2006: 64).
Furthermore, Fediuk, Coombs, and Botero address audience perception of a crisis.
Fediuk, Coombs, and Botero assert that crisis incidents that are perceived as personally relevant lead to greater cognitive processing of the crisis on behalf of the public (Botero, Coombs, and
Fediuk, 2010: 643). They claim that individuals will perceive a crisis as more severe when it results in a large amount of damage, as well as when it is perceived to impact personal goals
(Botero, Coombs, and Fediuk, 2010: 643).

Crisis Stages and Implications
While there may be several different theories and strategies to guide crisis communication, extant research shows that there are only three main stages that construct the

Communicating During Crisis 18 crisis communication model. These three stages are pre-crisis planning and