We have twice had occasion to praise the crisis communications skills of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The recent and horrific fires that have devastated that city will not — and are not — bringing similar accolades. It’s instructive for crisis communicators to examine just where Bass has gone wrong.

One glaring issue is that Bass, 71 (pictured), went on a trip to Ghana for its presidential inauguration when Los Angeles already had warnings of high fire risk. It is all too common for communicators to ignore the warnings of an impending crisis and then being unable to respond properly. Also, the mayor had promised to cut down on her much-maligned frequent globetrotting. The New York Times and the New York Post had highly critical articles on this.

Bass left for Africa Jan. 4, three days before the Jan. 7 start of the fires, which have killed at least 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. She addressed the warnings for the first time the night before the first fire, tweeting out a five-hour-old National Weather Service alert about wind gusts (“Stay safe LA!”). She didn’t mention fire danger. She returned to the United States Jan. 8. It didn’t help that she tried to defend herself during a press conference by arguing she was on the phone “almost every hour of the flight” back.

America’s Mayor

Another criticism is that Bass hasn’t been providing updates. That’s one of the most important tasks in a major crisis like this, when people crave information. One reason former New York City mayor and now-disgraced human Rudy Giuliani was labeled “America’s Mayor” was his daily updates on what was happening after the 9/11 attacks.

In addition, Bass hasn’t really addressed the many communications and operational failures that are angering Angelenos. As Los Angeles Times columnist Mary McNamara put it, “She has refused to answer questions and criticism about her departure, the city’s apparent lack of preparedness, reports of lag time between the eruption of the Palisades fire and a coordinated response and the clear under-staffing of the Los Angeles Fire Department.”

McNamara wrote, “This crisis has not, by any measure, been Bass’ finest hour.” The headline of her column, by the way, is “L.A. Officials’ Poor Fire Communication Should Have Residents Fuming.” As the hed suggests, the mayor isn’t the only official being criticized for dismal comms — California Gov. Gavin Newsom comes to mind. But the mayor is, after all, the mayor.

Social Media

On the other hand, fire and police officials have generally been praised for their communications, including Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott, the public-information officer. The Wall Street Journal had a piece about how Scott and the department had to battle not only the fires but misinformation on social media.

We previously praised Bass for her communication skills when Texas bused a group of migrants to Los Angeles and when the owner of famed deli Langer’s spoke out against crime in the neighborhood.

Photo Credit: Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock

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