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Monday 10 January 2011

What happens when you are doing your best but the media screws you?

In the case of Shell and their community relations within the Nigeria Delta; is it worth trying to do good only to be slated? 

Most people when they think of Shell think bad things...

Some would say that corrupt is the adjective most often used to describe politics (in the north of) Nigeria. On the other side of the spectrum, the word that most suitably portrays the landscape of its oil-rich south seems to be hellish.


‘The Niger Delta, a region of mangrove swamps and creeks is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of pipelines. Oil spills - the result of neglect by oil companies and vandalism by militants have caused significant environmental damage in this region. The area is further scarred by “flaring” which causes acid rain and air pollution’.
 
98% of oil spills that occur are down to this militancy activity, how can Shell get this message across with out looking like they are 'passing the buck'?


If a more positive message was portrayed of Shell's attempts then maybe they would be encouraged to keep it up! What is the point of them publicising their efforts when all it does is damage their reputation by opening them up to criticism? They might as well keep quiet and out of the firing line! A strategy that until now has proven extremely successful for Shell! From the results gathered in my survey so far, 64% of people weren't even aware of the negative coverage Shell get in national newspapers!


If YOU were in SHELL's shoes, stuck in the middle of a war zone, a volatile environment where gangs form an everyday part of life and criminal activity is endless; what would you do? Like Shell, would you choose the Government as your key stakeholder over local communities? Without ‘taking care’ of the government’s needs Shell wouldn’t be able to operate within the region.

It’s NOT realistic to believe you can fulfil ALL your stakeholders’ needs SO who is more important in this case? The local commuinity or the corrupt Nigerian Government...

Get involved - fill out my survey and let me know what you think of this post

Have an opinion - comment!

13 comments:

  1. No matter how hard they try, oil companies are never going to be ethical are they?
    Even if Shell was presented with greenest award for oil companies it's like..are you having a laugh? One stakeholder I def don't think do them any favours is the media. They would never publish anything nice about an oil company because the truth is the oil industry is just corrupt!

    Like you said people did not know that Shell was causing a problem for the Nigerian Delta but if you ask them how surprised they were about it they probably weren't really. People need to get oil from somewhere and if a massive story like this gets out, whats the point to switch to another oil company when that one obviously has its problems too?

    For the above reason I think Shell should probably maintain quiet but look at communities as their main stakeholder. Communities are obvs going to be screwed by these commpanies so they might aswell try to help the communities as much as they can so when the journalists go there and report they are being bad, they can turn around and say 'well actually we are here doing this, and if you go speak to the community they will actually tell you how much we've been helping them'

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  2. I agree with ines on her perception of oil companies, being green, being ethical, basically being at all in the good books either with other companies, the community and the media.

    Its a tough one, because no matter how much shell protest to doing good by the envirnoment and sourcing their oil ethically ( even thought they have been causing problems for the nigerian delta, they wont win! The best bet for shell is to stay out of the lime light, the media love to jump over anything that revolves around ethics and for the greater good.

    At the end of the day oil has to come from somewhere, we need it!!

    I didnt actually know that shell was causing problems, so this is actually a little shock for me, but now that i know about it, it makes it easier to understand why they are recieving such bad press. In this case i think im going to have to remain impartial because;

    1. we need oil
    2. everyone hates oil companies

    I cant give a biased view point on this one!

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  3. That’s exactly what I think Ines!
    Thanks for your comment - It’s true they are never going to be ethical!

    Shell does pro-actively run initiatives to help the community within the region, it’s just if they try and achieve publicity for their efforts it blows up in their face!

    They might as well, as we both thought, just try and do their bit (despite the oil industries unethical traits) for the community. So then, when it comes to it they can say well 'no, this is being done and we have done this' (with evidence!) I don't think there is any way they can ever be seen as ethical! So they might as well be seen to be trying, despite a tough business so to speak to be doing their best. Even though they are the ‘bad boys’ (as Catherine would say!) they aren’t unlike all other oil companies are they!?

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  4. Thanks for your opinion Jade!
    It's really interesting how you said you weren't aware of what Shell has doing/how they operate and the reasons behind the bad headlines.

    That’s a response I have come up against a lot through my research and actually about how we need oil in general... it’s unethical but a necessity. Do you think that’s probably down to the lack of awareness? In the sense here in the 'west' we are disconnected to the realities of the hell community’s face in the Delta? Ultimately our need appears to be greater than theirs. Maybe this is because of this ‘out of site out of mind’ perspective we seem to have as a nation?

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  5. Like the other girls have said, I am in complete agreement that we all know oil companies are not ethical, and none of them have an easy ride when it comes to the press.

    I also think that people are quite ignorant sometimes about how volatile these countries can be, and it would not be out of the ordinary for a group of men carrying guns to walk down the street, imagine if that happened here in the UK!
    In an ideal world we could say, you know what, you need to reach out to the communities within the region and say let us help you, but to be realistic, that will never happen. The oil industry and the countries they work in are all very corrupt, and so yes, I do think shell are doing the right thing by maintaining and focusing their communications with the government, as who knows what would happen if they didn't?

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  6. I again agree with the other comments that Shell and other oil companies are not ethical and never will be but I think they do often take a battering from the media. The slightest thing that they do they have the media on their backs, but when they do, do anything slightly good it is never reported on. I think they are right to focus on the goverment as their key stakeholder rather than the local community because as you stated it is not realistic to believe you can fulfil all your stakeholders needs and Nigeria is such a corrupt country that I think they would have a very tough job trying to get the local community on their side.

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  7. There's a lot to think about here. I don't know much about the oil business, and I won't proclaim I do, so I'm just going to speak from my own viewpoint and hope that I don't get the gist completely wrong.

    Oil isn't a silly little consumer product that is a luxury item. It's a staple to keep us living in a modern world. But unfortunately that doesn't come without the consequences. To get the oil out of the ground must be a complex process. We are playing about with mother earth, so there are bound to be some unpredictable mistakes, and oil companies can only focus on controlling the job they do.

    Unfortunately, when things go wrong, because it's the earth, livelihoods and communities that suffer, Shell, and other companies, receive a lot of flack. I guess it's hard for the media to write about the good things because messing about with the earth isn't an ethical topic, and without saying 'thank you Shell for providing us with the oil necessary to live our lives effectively' I'm not sure what good things they can say!

    If Shell were to try and focus on the communities in which they work, perhaps by instilling some of their fortune back into the local community, funding schools or clean water etc, then there would be more good things to say about them.

    But in my opinion the best thing to do, is for Shell to keep their heads down and continue working as they know how. We can't pick and choose the locations where oil is found, so they must just make the best of a bad situation. If the region suffers militant behaviour which is completely separate from Shell's work, then that is a community problem and not Shell's problem. Maybe Shell can find a away to help that? More jobs for locals for example.

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  8. Thanks for your feedback on this issue Georgina and Sam. Its tough to say isnt it. You want to suggest Shell help the community more (as lets face it, they have been screwed over by the lack of aid from the government) but it's just not realistic!

    If we (in the west) wanted to actually help the community like activists keep shouting about maybe the media should lead the way. With a few words of encouragement maybe, just maybe Shell would be encouraged to do more.

    An example could be that if you were trying really hard at school for instance, but kept being told you were rubbish (everyone else then thought u were rubbish) you would give up trying wouldn't you?

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  9. Just another point guys - Is it ethical to choose the government over the community?

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  10. Comment by Alfred Donovan:

    To see comment on his blog follow this link:
    http://royaldutchshellplc.com/category/nigeria/page/5/


    COMMENT BY A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF SHELL OIL USA

    I have a comment for Ms. Grainger:

    Shell not so bad? Ms. Grainger is going to get an education. In all honesty I too thought Shell was a great company when I first went to work for them. Boy did I get a surprise. I almost quit the first month I worked for them. However, I decided I was dealing with an localized ‘aberration’ and not the corporate ‘norm’. I was wrong, once again.

    The ‘aberration’ was better than the ‘norm’.

    It is not a question of the rank and file employees being ‘bad’, that is not the issue. The issue is the policy decisions made by senior management.

    When she finishes in Nigeria perhaps she would also like to assist the US Dept. of the Interior and the US Dept. of the Navy, NCIS, in their espionage investigations of Shell USA.

    Perhaps she might find the answer to RD Shell’s interest in, and efforts (alleged) to obtain access to, highly classified military technology that as a matter of law, the US espionage statutes to be exact, Shell was prohibited from having access to.

    Maybe she might want to help Donna Getz obtain some degree of justice and compensation for the permanent physical harm Shell did to her and other members of her family.

    And then there is Dr. Huong. Let’s not forget this poor man.

    And on it goes. Just a thought and a suggestion.

    I wish her well in her endeavors.

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  11. What have any of you done to help the situation? Have any of you started working on alternative sources of energy? Have any of you began walking to work? Until there are alternatives there will never be a fix. I work in oil and gas, and can honestly say that it is a necessary evil. It is alright to wave your signs and criticize oil field exploration and production. Remember right now they are the reason you can see you family in other states. Not to mention the millions of products that are created by oil by products.

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