Public Relations (PR) is responsible for providing information, educating, convincing, getting sympathy, and generating public interest in something, giving people understanding and accepting a situation. Thus, Department of Communication Science in specialization of Public Relations (PR) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) conducted ‘PR Talk: How to Manage Your Crisis for Creating Positive Reputation’ on Tuesday (15/5) at K.H. Ibrahim Building. 160 students were engaged in the discussion during the talk.
A Public Affair and Internal Communication manager of Sari Husada Endah Prasetioningtias stated that the PR is a dynamic world so that PR practitioners should be able to see each occasion to maintain a company reputation. “Every issue most likely turns a crisis. Before it occurs, an issue and crisis management team should work together to dampen it and give honest statements to media or public,” she declared.
Endah exemplified that in 2008 Sari Husada confronted an issue which milk produced by the company was polluted by a Sakazakii bacterium. “Facing the issue, PR should not immediately organize a press conference, but the PR presented nutritionists and doctors to explain details of the bacterium contents,” she maintained.
Meanwhile, a Communication Science lecturer Dr. Adhianty Nurjanah, M.Si. revealed that PR should possess a sense of crisis. “A crisis is unpredictable and unwanted so that the sense of crisis is crucial. PR should be proactive in discerning a condition, and then PR should analyze the first step to encounter public. Most importantly, PR should monitor media because they bring huge impacts on stakeholders,” he said.
Adhiianty also conveyed that PR should be able to predict crises in internal and external parties as well as environment. “If a crisis happens, a crisis management team should be ready to manage it through planning, identifying, and creating strategies and communication. PR should also understand crisis management well as it will affect reputation of a company or institution. I wish that this talk could broaden students’ knowledge of PR and get ideas of how to manage a crisis,” he ended.
