Jennie Donohue

It was a privilege to go see Jennie Donohue speak about Pan Am Flight 103. Twenty years ago she was a student at Syracuse University that had been abroad at the same time as the students on the flight that crashed. She was a friend to the students on the flight and the experience she had twenty years ago continues to affect her today. As a public relations professional, Jennie Donohue has learned first hand important public relations techniques through the experience.
She has learned to consider all audiences. Everything that a professional publishes has a personal affect on someone. Jennie heard about what had happened with her friends when she was backpacking through Europe. At the time she was in Florence, Italy. She overheard a couple of Canadians talking about a tragedy and she realized that they were talking about her friends. In the middle of the night she found a newsstand with an English newspaper. The first thing she saw in the newspaper was a passenger list. Much of the article was misinformation. The story seemed “sketchy” and was missing a lot of details. This newspaper article had a very personal affect on her because these were her friends on the plane. She realized through this experience that as a public relations professional it is imperative to get the story right before publishing. The professional needs to tailor the message to consider all audiences, especially when discussing a tragedy. Jennie’s advice is to think about the person on the other end of the story, and the impact your words make to the person on the other end.
Jennie Donohue stresses that there is fine line between being professional and being human. Her experience with this issue was at the memorial service for the Pan Am victims in the carrier dome. All she is able to remember from the service was that she and her friends needed to sit together for support. There were not enough chairs sitting together so she and her friends decided to move together seats. A person working the event came up to them and told Jennie and her friends that they cannot move the chairs. Jennie ended up getting in an altercation with the worker because she did not understand his cruel reasoning behind not letting her friends sit together. A professor ended up coming up to them and telling Jennie and her friends that they can sit together. This person working the event was told not to let people move chairs, but he did not consider the audience affected by this rule. Donohue felt as though the man working was selfish in not considering her friends feelings. When in comes to tragedies professionals need to consider all audiences while they are enforcing rules.
Jennie Donohue has learned a lot about her profession through her personal experience with Pan Am Flight 103. She has leaned to be strategic with communication. Donahue preaches to always take a moment to reflect and consider the impact of your communication. Everything that is published has an affect on people. Get the facts straight before publishing anything because you really do not know who could be reading what is said on the other end.