Expert answer:The Practice of Public Relations
Expert answer:Read
the “Sony Shoots the Messenger” Case Study on
page 242 in The Practice of
Public Relations, Ch. 11. Answer the three questions at the end of the chapter located on page 243. Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you describe how the case was
handled and provide recommended improvements for your client (Sony).Include three outside references as well as citations with your paper.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.Case Study Sony Shoots the MessengerIn the old days
of employee relations—before there was an Internet or a computer or a
typewriter or even an America—there were Greek and Roman rulers who never like
to receive bad news. Whenever they did, they lashed out at the (blameless) poor
souls who delivered the unfriendly tidings. In some cases—if the messenger
delivered news of a lost battle or fallen city—the envoy would be dealt with in
the harshest manner; merely for delivering bad news.Today, of
course, the bearers of bad news are often public relations professionals, whose
essential mandate, as we have learned, is to tell management the truth. Modern
managers, by and large, appreciate this candor from their public relations
associates.But
occasionally, as in the case of Sony Pictures Entertainment in the winter of
2014, a disgruntled manager harkens back to 46 a.d. and shoots the poor public
relations messenger.Boy King Strikes BackSony’s problems
began in November 2014, after the company released the trailer for an infantile
satirical comedy about North Korea, The Interview, starring Seth Rogen
and James Franco (Figure 11-7). Among other bits of hilarity, the
movie included the killing of North Korea’s boy ruler Kim Jong-un.From all
reports, North Korea’s supreme leader evidently didn’t see the humor in the
Sony movie. And shortly thereafter, cybercriminals hacked into Sony’s computer
system and leaked a treasure trove of 32,000 internal e-mails, revealing all
sorts of confidential and embarrassing correspondence. The anonymous criminals
promised to stop leaking documents if Sony canceled release of the offensive,
anti-Kim Jong-un movie.Within weeks,
the U.S. government concluded that North Korea was behind the Sony cyber
attack, which it labeled, “a serious national security matter.” For its part,
Sony got cold feet and canceled The Interview’s theatrical release,
compelling Rogen and fellow Hollywood actors to condemn Sony for its cowardice.Eventually,
after the release of a tidal wave of damaging documents, Sony changed its mind
and initiated a low-scale release of the movie, which landed with a thud and
was quickly resigned to the Hollywood scrap heap; at an estimated cost to Sony
of $75 million.The Damage Is DoneIn the face of
a steady flow of leaked revelations—including top employees’ salaries, nasty
Hollywood e-mails, and illicit movie downloads—Sony hired hardball attorney
David Boies to warn publishers that they would be held responsible if they
dared release any of the purloined material.Good luck.Boies’ entreaties
were laughed at, as the nation’s gossip network, fueled by Wikileaks, Gawker, TMZ.com,
and a host of other willing enablers, proceeded to fill the airwaves with a
month’s worth of stinging and embarrassing stories, including:
Facebook
founder Marc Zuckerberg wrote desperately to Sony executives to try to get
them to stop the movie, “The Social Network,” which he found
“hurtful.”
Sony
Co-Chairman Amy Pascal ran up a tab of $66,500 for car services, air
travel, meals, etc. on a two-day movie premiere in Washington, D.C.
In an
e-mail to Pascal, another Sony executive called comedian Kevin Hart “a
whore,” for demanding money to write a tweet promoting his new Sony
movie, for which he received a $3 million paycheck.
Before a
fund-raising dinner for Barack Obama, Pascal e-mailed producer Scott
Rudin, with both playfully pondering if she should ask the President how
he liked the movies Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, and
other black-themed films.
Figure 11-7 The
provocateurs.James Franco
and Seth Rogen, stars of The Interview.Photo:
SPNNewscomCo-Chairman
Pascal was criticized for the Hart and Obama e-mails, interpreted by many as
“racist,” and she was also taken to task for a set of e-mails, surrounding her
decision to fire Sony’s director of communications.“Off With His Head, Darling”Among the
leaked e-mails were several between the Sony co-chair and her husband, former
New York Times reporter Bernard Weinraub (Figure 11-8).Figure 11-8 The
e-mail executioners.Amy Pascal and
husband, former New York Times reporter Bernard Weinraub.Photo: FRED
PROUSER/REUTERS/NewscomSubject of this
marital correspondence was the publication by the Hollywood Reporter
newspaper of a roundtable interview with the heads of the major film studios.
For some reason, the only studio chief who wasn’t invited was Pascal.That didn’t sit
well with concerned hubby Weinraub, who tersely e-mailed his wife, “I would
fire your P.R. guy immediately . . . or at least tell him you’re not going to
deal with him anymore.”Pascal
forwarded her spouse’s note to Sony’s head of human resources, George Rose. “He’s
right,” the independent-minded human resource chief wrote back. Six days
later, Sony Pictures’ head of corporate communications, Charles Sipkins, was
out of a job. He made a base salary of $600,000-a-year, according to leaked
documents.According to
other leaked e-mails from Sipkins to Pascal, Hollywood Reporter
apologized to Sony for not inviting its chief, explaining that the roundtable
lineup shifted after some people initially passed and then reconsidered.The explanation
wasn’t enough to save the public relations man’s job.After the
“shoot the messenger” e-mails were made public, co-chair Pascal scrambled to
explain that the missed roundtable wasn’t the cause of the dismissal of her
communications chief. “That’s ridiculous,” Pascal said. “That has
nothing to do with it. Charlie’s very talented at what he did.”But in public
relations, as in life, “what goes around comes around.” And shortly after she
lowered the boom on her public relations director, Amy Pascal, herself, was
fired as Sony’s co-chairman, basically for what she revealed in her e-mails.Another
messenger had bitten the dust.*Questions
How would
you assess Sony’s handling of the hacking scandal?
Had you
been Amy Pascal’s public relations advisor, how would you have suggested
she handle the fallout from the e-mails, adjudged as “racist?”
Had Pascal
asked you to counsel her on what to do in light of her husband’s e-mail
about the roundtable, what would you have suggested?
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