Crisis Management

USA Hockey’s public silence at this moment isn’t just a missed opportunity. It actively risks undermining that growth by signaling to those new fans that the organization doesn’t take the women’s program seriously either.

From a crisis communications misstep on one of the entertainment industry’s biggest stages and new data showing employees now outpace CEOs in brand trust, to Burger King’s surprisingly human response to a decade of customer complaints, this week’s PR Roundup highlights the power—and pitfalls—of modern communications.

Building a modern communications stack doesn’t mean adopting every new tool. But you do need to select the right ones. To do this, brand communicators need to understand three fundamentals: voice, velocity and verification.

Build a robust crisis immune system for your organization against AI-generated risks.

PRNEWS has unveiled the winners of the 2026 Content Marketing Awards, which recognize the campaigns, creators and communicators redefining what public relations can achieve through content.

PR Roundup explores how trust and accountability are being tested across communications, from AI hallucinations landing in public-facing content to former President George W. Bush’s Substack debut and renewed backlash against Tyra Banks.

This week’s PR Roundup shows how quickly trust can unravel. Ring’s Super Bowl ad received backlash for its AI-powered “Search Party” feature, which aimed to charm viewers with a lost-puppy story, but many found it “creepy,” igniting privacy concerns.

The recent emergence of Moltbook, an experimental AI-native platform built and operated by a small group of independent technologists, has sparked many strong emotions among communicators—a combination of deep apprehension and intense intrigue.

For organizations that participate, sponsor, host or support mega sporting events, the communications landscape is uncompromising: every message, silence and misstep is amplified and politicized almost instantly.

The “Bad Bunny approach” offers crisis managers a set of lessons that apply across government, philanthropy, business and community networks.