Crisis Management

Katie Paine analyzes the fallout around the latest WikiLeaks release, and grades the stealthy whistle-blowing site’s communications vs. the efforts of the U.S. government.

Have all your crisis ducks in a row? Here’s a checklist of questions from John R. Brooks of the Communication Services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church that may save you some trouble.

While dealing with a communications crisis may unpleasant, advance planning, skillful execution and honest evaluation could provide the ultimate PR learning experience.

Think of a crisis as a trip—with proper information, planning and execution, the damage to one’s reputation is minimized. A well-executed plan will keep you on track and minimize the possibility of dangers along the way.

While it’s important to make sure that quotes are correct and facts are straight in a story, there are times to call attention to mistakes and times to back off.

In case of a crisis, calming fears and disseminating factual information internally is critical. Your organization’s Intranet can be the one-stop shop for gaining employee trust.

Given the power of blogs and other social media channels, crisis expert Richard Levick writes that it’s critical that organizations have a digital-savvy litigation communications team in place.

Here’s tips for communicators preparing a client for congressional testimony that can be applied to any speaking situation.

After a wave of negative press followed Royal Caribbean’s decision return to its long-visited Haitian port just days after the massive earthquake struck the island in January, the cruise company was able to turn the course of the coverage with consistent messaging.

Mutual trust and a set of firm ground rules go a long way toward keeping PR and legal counsel on point during a crisis. Having the CEO on board with messaging doesn’t hurt, either.