Miscellaneous

1987 .A1ASKA PRSA AURORA AWARD CATEQ>RY #8, "OO'HER"
SUtltARI
I. OBJECTI VE:
The objective of this public affairs campaign was to;
1. Locate all the factual information available about the incident and
make it available to the public.
2 . Reduce and eliminate rumors, speculation, and false statements by
employees and persons not involved or knowledgeable.
3. Respond to the public inquiry in such a manner that the agency
integrity, dignity, and respect is maintained by both employees
(morale, etc.) and non-employees.
4. Respond in a timely manner with all material and explanations to
preclude a "cover-up" accusation.
5. Create and provide interpretative material about complicated
technical aspects so subject can be easily understood and reported.
6 . Comply with all legal aspects of the United States Freedom of
Information Act.
7. Maintain the dignity and integrity of the Japan Airlines flight
crew.
8. Obtain agency policy and recorrmendations for release in a timely
manner.
9. Release all material simultaneously to media sources and public on
a national and international basis so none have a "scoop story"
advantage over another.
II. PL.ANNING:
Initial plans called for documenting and retaining the evidence,
investigating the incident, and waiting to see if there was any media
interest . Announcing the incident in any way was avoided as this would
place the integrity of the agency and the flight crew in question by
appearing to "grandstand".
There was an initial response period to the media and public in
which significant additional material about the agency's role in the
incident was uncovered. This occurred on a daily piecemeal fashion as
additional investigation of agency staff revealed information not
previously considered relevant.
Upon the advice of the Public Affairs Office the release of
information was intentionally shut off until all available data could
be collected, reviewed, analyzed, described, conclusions reached, and
r eleased at one time thereby eliminating the increasing appearance that
the agency was either incompetent or did not consider the incident as
ser ious.
National and international media and public interest was both un-
anticipated and intense. Many requests filed under the Freedom of
Infonnation Act (FOIA) were received as a result of the publicity. The
agency , by law, 11J.Jst respond to these requests in 10 working days. The
following plan, approved by the Director, was set forth January 5,
1987 by the Public Affairs Office.