I’ve always gotten a kick out of certain sports stars emphasizing the “The” when stating that they went to school at Ohio State University. They might not be so proud of their alma mater these days. Ohio State University is coming to grips with what appears to be decades of abuse of student athletes and patients of OSU’s student health services at the hands of team doctor Richard Strauss. To date more than 100 victims have come forward, many describing their efforts to expose Strauss and their anger that their concerns were met with institutional indifference. Strauss committed suicide in 2005. When I saw this headline in The Columbus Dispatch, “Ohio State’s actions will determine how it weathers public-relations storm, experts say,” I threw a penalty flag. Calling what is being investigated at Ohio State a PR storm contributes to …
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita have provided a rare opportunity for all organizations to learn from the experiences of others as they responded to extraordinary circumstances. These 10 principals can serve as a checklist for crisis response or as guiding principles for your organization''s crisis communications philosophy.
Access to Accurate Information Will Help Decision Makers Stop a Crisis Plenty has been written about how digital media has changed crisis communications. That makes sense, because the pace of scrutiny has accelerated with everyone carrying devices that can instantly broadcast video to a worldwide audience. What’s more, digital media creates a platform for people to express outrage, and that backlash can really sting. That said, the core fundamentals of crisis communications remain unchanged from when I entered public relations more than 20 years ago – and they go back a lot further than that. Crisis communications is sometimes portrayed as a way to deflect responsibility or explain away a problem. In reality, crisis PR’s most important role is to aid in stopping human suffering and the potential for harm to the community as quickly as possible. Crisis communications does …
Crisis Planning Can Reduce Crisis Risk and Speed Up Crisis Response Kudos to Jill Odom, editor for the trade publication, Total Landscape Care, for this week's story, "Expecting the unexpected: Managing a public relations crisis." Odom makes the case that every business -- even small businesses -- are at risk of a crisis and need a crisis response plan just in case. The article is worth reviewing and it prompted us at DPK Public Relations to catalogue a few of the biggest benefits we have observed businesses enjoying as a result of going through the crisis planning process. Here are the top five benefits of developing a crisis response plan: 1. The mere act of creating a crisis plan often establishes heightened awareness of crisis risks throughout the organization. By identifying and prioritizing the events that could threaten normal business …
Recent high profile online calamities experienced by notable brands are prompting discussion about the emergence of a new discipline: digital crisis communications. I understand that some people may believe the fundamental rules have shifted, thus necessitating a new approach to crisis planning and response. However, this is not the case. The fundamentals of crisis communications remain as relevant in an era of rapidly evolving media power structures as they have always been. That said, I am realistic enough to expect that digital crisis communications will probably catch fire because it captures the current zeitgeist. Social media has reached the tipping point, so more problems will be reported and discussed through online tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and whatever emerges in the next year to dethrone them. There will undoubtedly be all sorts of people who portray themselves as digital crisis …
DPK Public Relations President and Founder Dan Keeney, APR was featured in the article, "Crisis Communications: How to Recover from a Black Eye," in the March/April issue of Perspectives, a publication for the insurance brokerage industry. The article was written by Paula L. Weis, who does a great job of gathering a lot of solid information and delivering it in a way that is interesting and easy to read. Of course, these are challenging times for the entire financial services industry and insurance brokers are dealing with customers every day who are afraid that their carriers will not be able to survive. But the tips provided regarding crisis planning, response and recovery should be in the pocket of every communicator these days. You never know when you might need it. Download the article by clicking on the image below. …
27 years after Johnson & Johnson rewrote the book on crisis communication response, the company is back in the spotlight. No deaths, no tampering, just hurt feelings. The question is: was the inevitable apology acceptable?
What can every public relations counselor learn from Hurricane Ike? We offer 10 crisis planning and response fundamentals, expanding on what was published in the November 2008 edition of Public Relations Tactics.
The role of media in covering crises is evolving with enormous impacts from the impacts of the 24-hour news cycle and ubiquitous mobile devices with the ability to record or stream live video and sound. Find out what your organization should do now to protect its reputation.
With Hurricane Ike bearing down on Houston, it is appropriate to revisit the lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These are great fundamentals for crisis communications planning and response. A number of these lessons have been integrated into the operational response of public, private and nonprofit organizations, saving lives.