public relations

Public Relations and Publicity in the Case Study Sunil’s False Bombing Suspicion
Public relations is a strategic communication process that establishes mutually
advantageous connections between corporations and their public. Therefore, it involves
managing and releasing information from a person or organization to the general public to
influence the public. As opposed to PR, publicity is not under the control of any one party
and is generated by various sources. The case of Sunil shows the impact of the use of public
relations, which left behind bad publicity for the deceased family.
In Sunil’s story, three people were killed, and more than 200 were injured when two
bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon. The city of Boston and the friends and family
have lived to remember that day. It is unlikely that Sunil Tripathi's family will either, but they
have reasons for not doing so. The film ‘Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi’ (Nhan et al., 2017) tells
the narrative of these two families. As a gifted student from an accomplished family, Sunil
excelled in school but later began to experience depression while being a student at Brown
University. He vanished in March of that year. To help with the hunt, his family formed a
large operation and, to their chagrin, turned to social media. According to Sangeeta, even
though it was "uncomfortable" to "spread his tale on Facebook, they just knew this was what
they had to do." The family opted for this kind of publicity to establish the whereabouts of
Sunil.
Sunil’s story became intertwined during the night of the marathon bombing. The FBI
released images of the suspects three days after the attack. A former classmate of Sunil's said
that one of the suspects resembled him on Twitter (Kang, 2013). Reddit caught that up, and as
a result, the Tripathis' Facebook page was inundated with anti-Sunil remarks, many of them
claiming that Sunil was a Muslim terrorist because of his name and appearance. A lot of these
comments would make Sunil’s Mom cry. There was one by one deletion of all Tripathi's
posts, and virtual mob mentality seemed to be the day's theme.
In light of social media buzz, journalists began referring to the Tripathis. A few people
retweeted the charges. They were even aired on television by other people. The Tripathi's had
been waiting for information about Sunil to come through on their phones, and now they
were being bombarded with inquiries about his possible role in the blast. On Friday, April 19,
between 3 and 4 a.m. (Nhan et al., 2017), Sangeeta received 58 calls from the media.
Reporters were pulverizing their front door, and news trucks were parked outside. In the early
hours of the following day, the FBI named Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as the primary
suspects. There was no mention of Sunil.
The ethical implications of this situation concern the ethical dilemma of the values
held by professional journalism boards. Journalists have the freedom to pursue a full personal
life while accepting several distinct work responsibilities and constraints. Journalists are
expected to conduct themselves to honor their professional impartiality (Reddi, 2019). While
at it, it is unfair that Sunil was never looked at for the right purpose but rather for the false
implication as a suspect of the shooting. Secondly, this can be termed as defamation to
Sunil’s family and friends without compensation, which is unjust. Thirdly, Sunil’s search was
the last act in which they found his dead body. The mission of the FBI was to accomplish
only their justice at the expense of justice for Sunil's family welfare which to some extent
could be interpreted as injustice.
The Tripathis' goal is to remove Sunil's tale from the Boston Marathon bombing in the
wake of his death. That may never happen, however, according to his aunt Nina Taylor.
When someone searches for his name on the internet, you can be sure that it will always
come up with her. The family went public with the story because it was their only option, and
they were agitated about it because Sunil had such a private personality.
In conclusion, this case study brought the bad side of publicity to Sunil's family. As much
as the FBI’s in support of the government, had to use resources to accomplish their legal
obligations, the ripple effect fell upon Sunil's family, whose names were tarnished for being
associates with the bombing.