Nikki • Isabella • Christopher • Kendall

What is Fyre Festival?

Fyre Festival was a failed luxury music festival created by CEO of Fyre Media, Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. The festival was created with the intent to promote the Fyre app for booking music talent, but turned into complete disaster that had guests stranded in airports, unable to get home and some without any food or water.

The Fyre Festival incident became a widely spread crisis all over social media. The subject gained even more popularity with the recent release of a pair of documentary films presented on both Netflix and Hulu. After the release of the film in January of 2019, the news of the Fyre Festival disaster spread even more.

The infamous Fyre Festival has captivated a world audience. People are stunned that an event of this size and magnitude was able to be held despite so many obvious flaws in the event planning. In today’s society, crisis communication skills is important for mass communications professionals because it is essential for businesses and organizations to remain credible and trustworthy. Crisis communication planning can help individuals effectively deal with unexpected disasters or unusual events that may harm an individual or an organization. Crisis communication is an important skill for anyone in the mass communication field to understand.

What was the problem? How does it deal with Crisis Communication?

Crisis communication plays a huge role as a mass communications major. While taking your classes at Manship, your courses will bring up the subject of crisis communication quite often. Whether if your concentration is public relations, advertising, journalism or political communications, as an individual or organization, you want to find the best possible solution when it comes to protecting your reputation.

Here are some technicalities that Fyre Festival could have done differently and where you can learn from –

1. Take Responsibility

The problem for Billy McFarland and Ja Rule when it came to the Fyre Festival incident was that they did not take responsibility. Instead, they both ignored the problem and told their communications team to do the same.

If you are working in public relations, you do not want to cover up the PR crisis because it will only make matters worse. Instead, you want to take responsibility by react and respond immediately whether you write a press release or post on social media.

2. Be Transparent

The official response released by Fyre Media stated that “Due to circumstances out of our control, the physical infrastructure was not in place on time and we are unable to fulfill the vision safely and enjoyable for our guests.” A media festival consultant who helped work on the Fyre Festival explained that the statement was a complete lie. According to Marc Weinstein, music festival consultant, that Billy McFarland and the team who help orchestrate the festival had complete control and time to get everything under control before the chaos began.

For someone who works in media relations, the most important thing is to be honest and transparent with our audience. In order to maintain your brand’s integrity and credibility, you must be proactive in your communication, and admit fault where needed.

3. Be Ready for Social Media Backlash

In today’s society, news travels around quickly on social media. The backlash that Fyre Media received on social media was uncontrollable. A guest at the festival posted an image of the food they received on Twitter and within hours, the photo spread all over social media.  They were unprepared and their solution to the social media backlash was to delete negative comments under their social media platforms.

Deleting your audience’s comments posted on social media can make your company or organization look sneaky. Transparency should be your ultimate goal, especially when creating your crisis response. If you delete negative comments, other followers are sure to notice. This type of action will reflect poorly on your organization and your handling of a particular crisis.

When working in mass communications, social media plays a big role. One way to demonstrate an excellent customer service and transparent company is to answer online complaints in a timely manner. If your social media accounts receives and influx of comments, you should consider creating a comment policy within your media team. Information can spread on social media rapidly so remain calm and reply with an honest and authentic response in order to keep trust within your company.

4. Work with Your Team

The issue for Fyre Media was that Billy McFarland did not work together with his team. When the situation got worse and was spreading on social media like rapid fire, Billy McFarland and the communications team acted in a way that was every man for himself. The crisis management team was unable to work together with the executive department or anyone in Fyre Media to effectively come up with a solution. The CEO, Billy McFarland left everyone with unanswered questions and left the media department with nothing to give back to the audience.

In the mass communications field, you will most likely be working with the public relations team, advertising department, executive team and marketing managers to help recover the problem. The purpose of a crisis management team is to manage and lead individuals in order to communication important information to all departments.

5. Ethics

During the Fyre Festival incident, there were numerous amounts of information that the communications team withheld from the public. It was due to a combination of the CEO not communication with his team and him telling the communications team to keep the situation quiet. By acting this way and withholding pertinent crisis-related information it was unethical.

Organizations have ethical responsibilities before, during and after a crisis. Responding in a timely manner, being honest, and open gets a company through the difficult times, even make a company’s reputation stronger. As a communications professional, you want to think about whether your actions are ethical because remember that you are representing the company’s brand as well through your actions.

Takeaways

The actions taken by Fyre Media to resolve the crisis that occurred during the Fyre Festival disaster not only wrecked the company’s reputation and brand, but took a dramatic toll on the employee’s personal and work lives. Take note that as someone who works in the field of mass communications, remember to always take accountability for your actions, be transparent, and respond in a timely manner. Your audience will always be watching on social media and you want to maintain your company’s credibility as much as possible. Let’s take the Fyre Festival crisis and learn how to better ourselves as communications professionals.

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6 Steps on How to Write Your Essay to Manship

Step 1: Ask Yourself, “Why am I applying to the Manship School of Mass Communication?”

Think about the first time you realized why you wanted a career in Mass Communications. This will help you have a better understanding of why the Manship School is right for you. 

It helps to think about the area of concentrationyou are most interested in that the Manship School has to offer. Think about where this area of concentration can lead you in the future. 

For example: 

• Journalism will lead me to a career as a news anchor on WBRZ. 
• Public Relations will lead me to a job as a communications director at BASF. 
• Political communications will lead me to a future of becoming a lobbyist. 
• Digital Advertising will lead me to my dream occupation of becoming a graphic designer at Mesh.

Think about why you are applying to the Manship School will help you layout the rest of your application essay by providing a sense of guideline. 

Step 2: Think of Your Essay as a Story

By writing your essay as a story, it helps personalize your essay and make it unforgettable for the admissions officers. This is your chance to make yourself stand out and allow your unique qualities to shine. If you write your essay in a format of a story, it will allow for a memorable admissions essay. 

Step 3: The Beginning

When writing the beginning to your essay, you want to begin with a hook. A hook is an engaging introduction that helps captivates the readers and inspires them to keep reading. Think of this as you first impression. You want tot grab the admissions officer’s attnetion right away. 

Some ways you can develop your hook is by starting off with an – 

1. Example – An example would be a time and a place where you first found out that the  Manship school was where you wanted to attend. This involves setting up a scene where you can go back and describe its relevance later in the essay.
2.  A Question and Answer – This hook would have you creating a question that will have the admissions officer wondering and wanting to read more to find the answer. 
   

If you find yourself stuck, you can even write the hook last after writing the middle of your essay.  

Step 4: The Middle

When writing the middle of your essay you want to make sure to include aspects of the past and what you hope for the future. 

1. How have I benefited from a Manship course. 
2. What have you learned so far some a Manship course. 
3. What you hope to learn after being into the Manship School.

Step 5: The End

The ending to your essay should tie some slight way to the beginning like a story. You want to wrap up the story and keep your essay memorable. If you used a example hook, tie your ending back to the scene that you set up. If you used a question hook, answer the question that you had the admissions officer wondering about. All in all, the ending should not keep the reader wondering more.

Step 6: Proofread

After finishing your essay, you want to proofread and make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes according to AP Style. Here are some helpful things you should look out for: 

1. Do not spell the name of the school wrong. It is spelled “The Manship School of Mass Communication.”
2. Lowercase the areas of concentration. It is “public relations” not “Public Relations.” 
3. Be sure to keep the essay at least 250-300 words. 
4. Keep the paragraph structure to four-five lines per paragraph.
   

All in All 

The most important thing to do when writing your admissions essay is to understand that this essay will be a physical representation of yourself. It will demonstrate your skills and knowledge as well as represent who you are as a person. This essay is your chance to begin a bright future in the Manship School of Mass Communication, see you there!

After finishing your essay, check out the rest of the requirements to begin your acceptance into the Manship School!

Finding the right college concentration can be overwhelming. There are so many options to finding the right one that best fits you and it can be intimidating, we completely understand!

The best way we found to help make your decision a little easier would be having a clear understanding of what you’re interested in, how you learn best and what you want out of the school. There are a variety of options at Louisiana State University, but at the Manship School of Mass Communication, not only will you find valuable resources, but you will be introduced to many helpful professors and advisors that will make an impact on your life forever. 

Check out these five reasons why you should apply to the Manship School of Mass Communication, and you’ll be attending there before you know it.

1. A Degree That Can Take You Anywhere

At Manship, you will be able to gain and improve on many transferable skills including: communication skills, writing techniques, transmedia storytelling and content creation. Recieving a degree from Manship will provide you with an opportunity to work in any work force you dream of. 

2. Diverse Concentration Selection 

There are four different concentrations that are offered at Manship. Whether you dream of a career as a social media advisor, television reporter, campaign manager or communications director, Manship will have an area of study for you. They include: 

1. Journalism – This allows you to focus on storytelling across traditional and digital platforms. You will learn about writing, research, and have hands-on opportunities.

2. Political Communications – This is a blend of politics, public relations and issued based advocacy. If you’re interested in becoming a lobbyist or anything relating to politics, this is right for you.

3. Public Relations – You will learn skills that emphasizes on strategic communications and planning. The Manship School has the #1 student public relations team in the nation! 

4. Digital Advertising –This will help you learn about traditional and digital advertising strategies. You will learn about social media, visual graphics and how to collaborate with major national brands. 

3. Offers Dual Degrees 

The Manship School offers the 3+3 Pre-Law Program where you can combine your first year of law school with your senior year of undergraduate studies. For those who foresee a career in public advocacy or law, this program will help student develop skills critical to the legal field.

4. Student Media Organizations 

The Manship School provides a numerous amount of opportunities for students to get involved and gain experience. The most popular active student organizations include:

• The Daily Reveille – They provide local and state news to campus every week. This allows students to get the chance to gain experience as reporters, investigators, designers and editors.

• Tiger TV – They broadcast live news, sports, and entertainment programs four days a week. Students are able to work in front of and behind the camera as reporters, anchors, videographers, producers and managers.

• KLSU – A student run, non-commercial, education radio station that broadcast 24.7. KLSU allows students host specialty shows at night and on the weekends to report news, sports, and entertainment on the air. 

• Ad Fed – The LSU student chapter of the nation professional society, The American Advertising Federation. Students are able to develop creative ideas, follow along with the latest trends in advertising and marketing, and network with different clients.

• PRSSA – The professional student organization of Public Relations Students Society of America. This organization allows students to gain real-world and professional experience and opportunities. This chapter runs its own public relations firm, ImPrint Communications, which allows students to handle clients locally around Baton Rouge. 

5. Home to Successful Alumni

There are many alumni that graduate from the Manship School that end up with very successful careers. Some well known graduates include: 

Finalize Your Thoughts

If you’re someone who enjoys communicating through visual graphics, building relationships or being in front of the camera, then the Manship School of Mass Communications is for you. The Manship School will not only teach you the necessary skills that you need, but provide you with opportunities to gain real experience. All of the professors and administrators at the Manship want to help you achieve your highest goals. For them, there is no goal that is unreachable with the right resources and motivation.

If you feel as if the Manship School is right for you, take a look at the Manship website for more details! 

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Welcome to our blog! Our team consists of Nikki, Isabella, Christopher and Kendall. We are all attending the Manship School of Mass Communication while majoring in mass communication with a concentration in public relations. Nikki hopes to pursue a career in social media PR with the skills she’s learned in her courses of digital branding and PR strategies. Isabella looks forward to getting a career in nonprofit public relations. The Manship school has helped Isabella develop and improve her writing abilities and social media usage. Christopher plans to continue his education with the Manship school by getting his masters degree. His goal is to pursue a career in film and television marketing. Kendall has achieved many skills from being in the Manship school, along with connecting and networking with many different people across the country. 

With our combined skillset and experience, we hope to showcase our knowledge on what we’ve learned while being at the Manship school. We are writing this blog in order to document and reflect on our time at Manship and allow those who are interested in mass communications to see what impact public relations can have. We hope to spark your attention  for those who have a passion in social media, building relationships and communication studies. 

We will be writing about the importance of mass communication and the impact it has on society, and will explore coinciding topics. We hope others will be able to look at our work and understand current trends, along with how social media impacts our society today. 

Visit the Manship homepage to learn more about mass communication!