The media have been reporting excessively on the BP Oil Spill Disaster. Barely any coverage has been devoted to three all important questions; who is responsible for this manmade catastrophe, who has been an active accessory, and who has been caught napping?
BP’s leaking oil well will spill more than five million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. A well designed collection dome could have stopped the leak within days. One week’s spill could have been mopped up with two advanced oil skimmers, if each vessel had been capable of collecting more than five thousand barrels per day. Neither the oil industry nor the U.S. Coast Guard was prepared for dealing with a well failure in deep waters.
BP’s Tony Hayward faced hours of grilling in his Congressional testimony. Here are three must-learn lessons of media training when the odds are stacked heavily against you.