Ministermordet - RIB Bibliotek

The police crisis management in the
Lindh murder revolved largely about
communicational matters concerned
with the authorities' relations with the
media. Even if skills and working
methods had been developed within
the police information activity, the
comprehensive media interest was still
a problem. The police displayed, despite
earlier experience from different types
of extraordinary events, a certain lack
of familiarity with handling comprehensive
external communications consisting
of long series of press conferences.
It may be said in this area that
further lessons and experiences from
earlier crisis management need to be
learnt and internalised by the organisation.
Thus for example the police press
conferences were simultaneously interpreted
into four languages on the occasion
of the sinking of the Estonia, but
in connection with this event, no such
interpreting was offered.
Whilst the police directed criticism
at the ethics and working practices of
the media and especially the evening
papers in connection with the Lindh
murder, the event shows up the dependency
relation between the police and
the media. In the acute phase the media
largely supported the work of the police.
The media passed on tips from the
police and called for witnesses. A further
example is when a journalist on regional
TV pointed out to the police when the
tips bus which was supposed to have
been outside the department store the
previous day had failed to turn up.
This gave the police a chance to put
their mistake right and they managed
to get the tips bus to turn up half an
hour later. In return the reporter chose
not to write about the police mistake.
The Lindh outrage also meant a
number of critical questions from the
media which the police had to field.
These concerned especially the fact that
Anna Lindh had been without a bodyguard,
but also police activity itself
after the attack. The media were also
interested in the way the police and
ambulance were summoned to NK [the
Swedish department store where Lindh
was murdered]. The media were thus
looking for errors and scapegoats early
on whilst at the same time supporting
the police hunt for the attacker.
Important internal
communication
In addition to externally orientated
action, crisis management also involved
internal orientation, and crisis communication
was to be more strongly
emphasised by the target group, i.e. the
staff, than in normal crisis situations.
Certainly internal communication in
the sense of the current situation etc is
of central importance in all organisational
crisis management - even if this
is often ignored - but in this case the
information concerned the staff themselves.
Especially at the Foreign Office
many employees felt they had a close
relationship with Anna Lindh, and
within her ministry almost a family
one. The attack and her death were a
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