Crisis Management

For communications leaders, there are moments when the job stops being theoretical. When a city is under a national microscope, and employees are watching from their kitchens, discussing in their group chats, and thinking on… Continued

From Ye’s crisis apologies and credibility questions to Oscar Mayer’s bun-believable brand theatrics and Muck Rack’s AI reality checks, this week’s PR Roundup highlights how communicators are navigating seriousness, spectacle and strategy all at once.

As social issues, such as those in Minnesota, escalate rapidly and play out in real time, business leaders are increasingly forced to decide not just whether to speak or make statements, but how clearly—and at what risk—in moments when silence, caution or ambiguity can be interpreted as a message of its own.

The Buffalo Bills’ week of misfires provides stark, real-world instruction for public relations professionals. The failure was not necessarily in the decision to fire their coach, but in their total breakdown of crisis communication protocols.

From reputational risk landmines to renewed fears over press freedom—and even a fast-food brand poking a very devoted sports fandom—this week’s PR Roundup underscores how quickly trust, tone and transparency can collide

As 2026 approaches, it pays to take stock of everything that occurred in 2025 and how it could impact the next year of the PR industry. Some friends in the communications world approached PRNEWS with predictions for the coming year for many PR tenets including digital, crisis, media relations and more.

This week’s PR Roundup examines an AI-generated McDonald’s holiday ad gone wrong, a new study by Ruder Finn that reveals employee optimism around AI, and Beaches going all-in on experiential for an Elf on the Shelf vacation no family will soon forget.

What topics attracted the most attention from PR professionals this year? Take a look at the PRNEWS top 5 most-read stories in 2025. Crisis and digital PR seemed to engage our audience most—particularly anything having to do with Substack or LinkedIn.

This week’s PR Roundup looks at how Vanity Fair and journalist Olivia Nuzzi decided to part ways after a public scandal, how Instagram is promoting its Teen Accounts through conversations with Usher and his kids, and what was the word of the year on social media in 2025?

This week’s PR Roundup examines how a nationwide shredded-cheese recall put brand trust and transparency to the test, Black Friday chatter revealing just how quickly attention spikes—and disappears—in today’s media ecosystem, and Meals on Wheels delivering one of the season’s most resonant Giving Tuesday messages.