Don't Get In A Flap

Things are looking bad for Bernard Matthews. Their handling of the media has been pretty sure footed so far: plenty of TV coverage of their workers taking action, grisly but necessary, to clamp down on the bird flu bug. Plenty of supportive statements from Government, and even the TGWU, their main union, saying they've done everything right in the face of this unexpected and devastating crisis. But one thing is missing. Old Mr Bootiful himself. Suddenly the tide has turned against the Bernard Matthews organisation, with claims that they've not been totally open about the business they've been doing in Hungary, where the outbreak is thought to have started. Where is the reassuring face of Bernard to convince us that he has our welfare at heart? Now he's getting on a bit - no spring turkey he, at 80, but the personal appearance of the man who personifies the company is necessary, and notable by its absence. There's no escaping the golden rule of media handling in a crisis: get on the site, get before the cameras, be seen to be in charge of putting things right.