Hear from the Communicators' Point of View in the BP Oil Spill Crisis

There’s naturally a lot of conversation online and off about the BP, federal agencies, the President and anyone else who is or could be involved in the clean up of the Deepwater Horizon oil mess. There’s the environment angle, the coastal resident livelihood angle, the worker safety angle, the regulation of oil drilling angle, etc., etc. And for readers of this blog, there’s the public relations and communications angle.

Interestingly, there are a couple of podcasts that have interviewed communicators who are in the middle of the crisis.

The For Immediate Release podcast by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson posted an episode on May 15, 2010 where Neville interviews Neil Chapman, BP Head of Refining and Marking Communications.

The On the Record Online podcast by Eric Schwartzman posted an episode on June 4 titled: “BP Oil Spill Crisis Communications: Inside the US Government's First Attempt at Using Social Media to Communicate a National Disaster.” Eric interviewed U.S. Navy Public Affairs Officer Jim Hoeft, who is coordinating communications at the Official Site of the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command for the Joint Command Center in Louisiana.

The On the Media NPR podcast by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone had a story on June 04 about the Coast Guard, BP, and media access to the Gulf oil spill.

And then there’s the PR critic, “Leroy Stick,” who started a Twitter feed, @BPGlobalPR, in order to poke fun at BP and its “BS” PR statements. He has no connection to BP. Advertising Age landed an interview with him that you can read online. Whether or not you agree with his tactics (e.g., brand-jacking), he does make some thoughtful points.