Crisis management guru Jonathan Bernstein, who is celebrating
his tenth anniversary in business this month, has watched crisis
communications move from the aisle of corporate America to center
stage. Bernstein, a frequent commentator on crisis issues, who has
appeared on CBS, ESPN, Fox News and quoted in The Wall Street
Journal and USA Today, among other media outlets, says a growing
number of corporations are starting to ramp up their crisis
communications efforts. For a look at how crisis has evolved the
last several years PR NEWS asked Bernstein to stack up the top five
crises in 1999 compared with the same list for 2004:
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Crisis Communications: A look
back...and forward |
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1999
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2004
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| Reputation threats are relatively easy to manage even when you've done wrong. |
Reputation threats are usually hard to manage even when you've done nothing wrong. |
| The greatest human threat to Americans is perceived to be gang violence. |
The greatest human threat to Americans is perceived to be foreign terrorists, even though in fact it's still gang violence. |
| Less than 2% of American organizations have ever done any comprehensive crisis preparedness. |
American organizations feel the impact of Enron & Sept. 11 attacks; a whopping 5% engage in comprehensive crisis preparedness. |
| Litigation-related crises cost American organizations billions and litigation-related PR is usually pathetic. |
Litigation-related crises still cost American organizations billions, but litigation-related PR has grown much more sophisticated and the battles are fought both in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. |
| Celebrities are in occasional crisis and no one thinks it's a big deal as long as they act relatively contrite. |
Celebrities are in constant crisis and they still run for governor or dance on cars in front of the courtroom where they're being tried. |
| Source: Jonathan Bernstein/Bernstein Crisis Management LLC |
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