重大公眾事件政府危機溝通策略之研究－以中國大陸毒奶粉事件為例

Abstract

2008年9月台灣首度面對中國大陸毒奶粉的侵襲，全國因此陷入一片「飲食末日」的危機與恐慌，國內民眾為此還喪失了長久一來對奶製食品的安全感與信賴感，取而代之則是，超市奶製商品被迫下架又下架；依賴飲用配方奶粉的孩童生命大受威脅；連民眾平日見面的第一句問候語都變為：「我們還能吃些什麼？」，中國大陸毒奶粉在政府不當及人為錯誤的處理下，早就從一起簡單的民生事件，扭取演變為複雜的政治風暴。本研究想要瞭解，政府在中國大陸毒奶粉事件的發生過程中，是否能在危機每個發生階段，掌握第一時間立即召開記者會，並以公開與坦率的態度，提供外界快速、正確及口徑一致的新聞資訊？是否能夠建置正確的危機溝通管道，掌握正確的危機溝通策略，在危機資訊不明確的各個階段，協助降低民眾疑慮與誤解，並建立大眾對政府的公信力的信任度，將危機成功化為轉機。 本研究將以中國大陸毒奶粉危機事件發生的四個階段，即危機潛伏期、危機爆發期、危機延續期、危機解決期，針對政府在各階段採用的危機處理及危機溝通方式，設計相關的問卷議題，並邀請20位國內知名度較高的報紙、雜誌、網路電子報等平面媒體新聞工作者，針對問卷議題進行深度的訪談研究。期望藉由訪談結果提醒政府，媒體是政府與社會大眾之間，在第一時間內最直接也最有效果的互動溝通管道，政府必須要瞭解媒體，並進一步與媒體合作，千萬不可隱蔽任何危機資訊，另外，政府在面對危機造成的各項問題與疑慮，也不可以採取沈默或是迴避問題的態度，這樣只會造成媒體偏頗或錯誤報導，進而增加危機對政府造成的嚴重損害。 最後本研究提出五點建議：其一是政府必須具備黃金24小時的危機處理概念；其二是建立跨部會的緊急危機應變機構；其三是建置危機溝通管道，加強提升與媒體的良善互動關係；其四是加強民眾危機處理意識，切實執行危機新聞處理原則；最後則是期望能加強與國際進行危機處理的資訊交流。

The import of melamine-tainted milk products from China in September 2008 brought about a panic over food security in Taiwan. For a period of time, people lost confidence in diary products, while stores were ordered to remove the foodstuff from their shelves. Formula milk threatened lives of babies. People greeted each other by saying “What can we eat?” The tainted-milk issue, which was supposed to be a pure matter of livelihood, turned into a political turmoil in the wake of the government’s inappropriate handlings of the scandal. The purpose of the research is to find out whether the government was able to hold a press conference at the very first time when a crisis happened and to take an open and candid attitude to provide news agencies with accurate and consistent information in swift way. The elements that can convert crisis into opportunity are whether the government can set up accurate communication channel for crisis, have a command of proper crisis communication strategy, reduce doubts and misunderstandings among the public, and establish the public’s confidence in its ability to deal with problems. The research studied Chinese melamine-tainted milk products in four stages—when it was still in the latent period, when the milk scare broke out, when the crisis continued, and the problem was solved. The paper conducted in-depth interviews with 20 print journalists with relatively well-known news agencies of newspapers, magazines, and online papers through questionnaires. Questions included in the questionnaire are in connection with the government’s crisis management and crisis communications skills. The research wished to remind the government that the media is the most direct and effective channel for real-time communication between the government and the public. The paper finds that the government must get to understand the media and cooperate with the media. It is for sure that the government can never cancel crisis information from the media. Meanwhile, in the face of food security crisis, the government can neither hold a tacit attitude, nor can it try to skirt the problem—otherwise, it would only deepen the crisis and cause more harm to the government as the media is prone to produce biased and incorrect reports. The paper proposed five suggestions: it has to embrace the concept that crisis has to be dealt in the critical 24 hours, it has to establish inter-departmental emergent crisis management mechanism, it has to set up communication channel for crisis, it has to enhance the public awareness of crisis management and stick with the guidelines for handling crisis stories, and it has to strengthen exchanges of information on crisis management with the international community.