Integrity Issues
Student’s Name
University
Integrity Issues
In its article titled “Navy Fires Captain who Sought Help for Virus-Stricken Ship,” the Associated Press (2020) reports about the firing of the captain of the US Navy craft carrier identified as USS Theodore Roosevelt for using the wrong channel of communication when asking for help after some of the soldiers in his ship were infected with the coronavirus. However, the decision of the Navy to reprimand the captain in question received mixed reactions where some entities praised it while others thought it was ill-advised. This paper supports the decision of the Navy of firing the captain in question since the action of the latter had the effect of causing anxiety and depicting the government in the federal government as incompetent in guaranteeing the welfare of its soldiers.
Communication is very important in disaster management. When disasters occur, the demand for information from the victims, their families and the society at large increases exponentially (Moorthy, Benny, & Gill, 2018). These entities want to know what is going on in the affected areas, the actions of the emergency response team and government, and the status of the victims. However, there are situations in which existing public health issues may override the masses’ right to information. Already, people are facing anxiety and feeling helpless as the coronavirus epidemic continues to wreak havoc across the world. As such, getting news that suggests that the government is unable to protect its soldiers from the virus may serve to increase the feeling of anxiety and helplessness, which would only worsen the situation many Americans are facing.
At the same time, the captain in question failed to follow the established protocol in communicating disaster-related information. According to Moorthy et al. (2018), much of the organized communication in disaster management is done in a systematic and standardized approach. When this approach is in place, communication is done by radio using encryption to ensure that the conveyed message is secure from the public or through face-to-face meetings. The reprimanded navy captain used email to convey sensitive information and even made deliberate efforts to ensure that his message was received by the mass media. If I was the navy captain, I would have ensured that I convey the message pertaining to my vessel being infected with coronavirus to my immediate commander. At the same time, I would have ensured that I ask for permission from my superiors before sending any message to the mass media outlets. I would have only reached out to the mass media if there were no response from the navy leadership.
In conclusion, disasters expose the weaknesses of leaders, governments, and society. This is what happened to a navy captain who disclosed sensitive information to the media by using the wrong channel of communication to pass the message about the coronavirus having infected some of his soldiers. Depicting the government as incompetent is the wrong thing to do in times of disasters.
‘
References
Moorthy, R., Benny, G., & Gill, S. S. (2018). Disaster communication in managing vulnerabilities. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(2).
The Associated Press. (2020). Navy fires captain who sought help for virus-stricken ship. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/04/02/us/politics/ap-us-virus-outbreak-aircraft-carrier.html?searchResultPosition=4