Gymnastics Onion: As crises have a tendency to do, the Dr. Larry Nassar situation continues to spread its tentacles. As we reported ( PRN, July 17, 2017), the initial focus was U.S.A. Gymnastics (USAG). The entire board eventually resigned, just after Nassar’s sentencing was announced last week. Still, that part of the scandal may not yet be done. Several heads, if not the entire board, at the seemingly inert U.S. Olympic Committee could roll also. At the moment, of course, most of the attention is centered on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU), the second of Nassar’s former employers, where conditions for a perfect storm are right: the media’s klieg light is shining brightly and sports network ESPN is reporting other MSU coverups; momentum from #MeToo helps encourage the story to remain alive; apparently plenty of malfeasance, inaction and covering up took place, leading to the abrupt “retirements” last week of MSU president Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis; and Michigan politicians, mainly attorney general Bill Shuette, are cocked and primed for the 2018 election. You might recall that when politicians detect a meaty target prior to an election the result can be ugly. (Remember the reception then-Wells Fargo chief John Stumpf received from ravenous lawmakers on Capitol Hill in September 2016 during the bogus credit card scandal? Enough said.)
The Lessons: Crisis management 101 says the board of an organization in crisis should order an internal investigation as a prelude to recommending fixes. It’s critical that the investigation seem above reproach. The MSU board may have missed that lesson. The goals of its internal investigation of the Nassar situation seem murky at best, duplicitous at worst, according to a page 1 article in the NY Times (Jan. 28). The board launched an internal review last year as reports of complaints against Nassar rolled in. In December 2017, the review’s chief, Patrick Fitzgerald, wrote MSU staff knew nothing of Nassar’s illegal activities. (Several victims, claim they’d informed MSU staff of their complaints years ago.) The rub: critics say Fitzgerald and his team were employed to keep the school out of legal trouble, not to rigorously investigate Nassar. The Times even quotes an MSU trustee, Joel Ferguson, saying the same thing: “We have the person who was defending us investigating us…There was a conflict.” The Federal Education Department and Michigan, under Shuette, its attorney general, began their own investigations last week.
Free Press: One of the few good things to come out of the Nassar debacle was it emphasized the need for a free press. During the trial, prosecutor Angela Povilaitis noted, “We…need investigative journalists more than ever,” as she hailed the Indianapolis Star’s reporting, according to Poynter’s Morning MediaWire. As we mentioned in our initial coverage (PRN, July 17, 2017), Nassar might have escaped punishment had it not been for the Star, which in 2016 reported on 100 instances of Nassar’s sexual misconduct against MSU and Olympic athletes. Nassar was forced to resign relatively quietly from USAG in 2015 for what was called “athlete concerns.”-- Another good thing from this ugly affair: House and Senate bills were approved requiring athletic organizations to immediately report complaints of sexual harassment to police.
Platform Prater: Wall St Journal proprietor Rupert Murdoch said if Facebook and Google want to carry “trusted” media sources to combat bogus info, they should pay publishers a carriage fee. Neither Facebook nor Google responded.
Growth: Beckerman, parent of Beckerman PR, acquired marketing agency Chicago Digital. No financial details were provided. -- Cision finalized its acquisition of PRIME Research ( PRN, Jan. 9). Cision also said PRIME founder/president Dr. Rainer Mathes will lead Cision Insights. -- Walker Sands opened a Seattle office. Annie Gudorf will lead it.
Finn Partners
People: Cohn & Wolfe named Gary Goldhammer EVP of its digital innovation group, U.S. Goldhammer joins from Hill + Knowlton where he was U.S. creative director. – Greenough promoted 13-year vet Scott Bauman to GM. Previous to Greenough he’d been at Weber Shandwick. – Congrats to Jake Basden of Big Machine Label Group, named the Country Music Association publicist of the year. – Dessler Media promoted Kevin McDaniel to SVP, PR. He’ll lead the physician protection organization plan. – Finn Partners said veteran pharma exec Christopher Bona has joined the company as a partner in its Chicago office health group. – Congrats to Robert Gard, who recently joined the Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau and was promoted to director of PR & communications. -- DiMassimo Goldstein named Wendy Lurrie chief client growth officer. Lurrie was managing director and president of Gyro’s NY office and Gyro: human, its healthcare operation.