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Abstract: Effective crisis communication is the key to success in solving a security crisis, be it social, economic, environmental etc. In this case study we intended to analyse in the light of crisis communication the events of the social crisis at the end of 2015, erupted following a major fire in a club in Bucharest. The case study presents a few essential aspects which prove that during security crises, when there are various pressures on the communicators, temporary or referring to the content of the messages, effective communication can relieve the tension fast. But lack of communication or communication mistakes make room for manipulation and negative reactions.
Keywords: social crisis, crisis communication, social fears, Colectiv Club.
The fire at Colectiv Club in Bucharest in the night of Friday to Saturday, 30-31 October 20151, was considered the biggest event with multiple victims in Romania after the events in 1989, being qualified by experts, and also by the national and international press, as a disaster or catastrophe. Following the disaster at Colectiv, the Government of Romania immediately decreed three days of national mourning.
Through the case study about the security crisis, hereinafter referred to as "Colectiv", we have elucidated the communication mechanisms used by the responsible persons and the ones involved in the crisis management, that influenced the mass behaviourpositively or negatively, by meeting or not the expectations and the needs of the population. The analysis of crisis communication has implicitly comprisedthe officials' actions and messages, their efficiency as well as the extent to which they caused the protest reactions of the population or contributed to the positive change of the mass behaviour. We have also brought to attention the appropriateness of the reactions of the state institutions and some officials in the emergency and crisis situation.
For the analysis and interpretation of the events and the related communication we have focused on the principles of crisis communication management, which aim at the clear determination of the purposes, the choice of the appropriate strategies and techniques, the assignment of the responsible persons, the correct dissemination of the internal and external information, the management of the message sent to the public directly and through the mass-media, the analysis of the feedbackreceived, as well as the inclusion of...