La transparencia como variable reputacional de la comunicación de crisis en el contexto mediático del ciberataque WannaCry

Abstract

This piece of research analyzes the media context of the WannaCry cyberattack in relation to the crisis communication carried out by Telefonica with respect to that exercised in the Telecommunications sector, applying, in two intervals of the cyberattack, the grounded theory to the media discourse of the press. Despite the improvable reputation of the corporate brands in the Telecommunications sector, the immediate reaction, the informative transparency exerted, the collaboration with public bodies and others affected and a quick solution to the cyberattack are the fundamental categories on which a stronger reputation than that of its direct competition has been built during the crisis communication, transferring the traditional official spokesperson to the social networks of one of its directors. The negative feeling of 14% that emerges from the media discourse during the first wave of cyberattack coincides with the 12% shown by citizens on Twitter, so the published opinion is consistent with the opinion of the public. Despite this, there is a greater incidence of the negative approach in the “confidential” digital newspapers, less exposed to the advertising pressure of the large corporate brands and more to the loss of journalistic values alluded to in the scientific literature.