crisis management

How News Gets Framed Influences Public Emotions Towards Corporations

Submitted by Anne Landman on January 15, 2012 - 9:26am

TVsetCorporate spinmeisters may take note of a new study out this month by University of Missouri and University of Singapore researchers. They studied readers' reaction to various news articles and found that the subtle way in which journalists report on crises -- like oil spills, plane crashes or product recalls -- can affect the public's attitude towards the corporation involved in the crisis. Not surprisingly, the public tends to respond more favorably towards a corporation if the story is given a "sadness-frame," meaning if it centers around the plight of the victims and how relief is being delivered. By contrast, if a story focuses on the corporation's contribution to the crisis, including laws that were potentially broken and possible punishment, it elicits a more negative attitudes towards the corporation. The research may prove useful to corporate criminals as well as accident-prone industries. "It is important for corporations to put on a human face during crises," Cameron said. "If a corporation can focus on the well-being of the victims and how the corporation will improve following the crisis, they have a better chance of influencing 'sadness-frame' news coverage as opposed to 'anger-frame' coverage. If the news coverage remains 'sadness-framed,' public perception will stay more positive." Watch for this spin in your local news and keep us informed at PRWatch.org.

Main Source: 
PhysOrg.com, January 13, 2012

Synagro's Shiny New Patina

Submitted by Anne Landman on October 3, 2011 - 4:28pm

Synagro protest in DetroitSynagro Technologies is the latest big corporation trying to ditch a scandal-ridden past by re-branding itself. In an August 10, 2011 press release, the company announced it is launching a new website as part of a "rebranding initiative." The press release says the initiative "is a reflection of the enhanced and growing service and solution offerings that have resulted from organic growth and recent acquisitions." Of course, the press release fails to mention the back-to-back scandals that have plagued Synagro since 2008 as well as earlier controversies.

Synagro is in the business of marketing sewage sludge as "compost," or, as the company's new, PR-approved website puts it, "Transforming natural waste challenges into sustainable, planet-friendly solutions." The company is a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, the largest private equity firm in the world. Carlyle is also a sizeable part of the military-industrial complex with ties to numerous national politicians, including former British Prime Minister John Major, Alice Albright (daughter of former Secretary of State Madelyn Albright), and both George W. and George H.W. Bush.

Can PR Fix This End Run?

Submitted by Anne Landman on August 31, 2010 - 1:27pm

Tiki BarberTiki Barber, a former running back for the New York Giants, has hired the 5W Public Relations agency in New York to try and repair his image after he left his wife, who was eight months pregnant with twins, for a former NBC intern. 5W Public Relations is the third PR agency Barber has hired to try and burnish his image. The couple also has two other sons, ages 7 and 6.

Main Source: 
Huffington Post, August 31, 2010

Sometimes PR Just Can't Help

Submitted by Anne Landman on August 25, 2010 - 11:04am

BPlogoThe PR debacles of BP, Toyota and Goldman Sachs show the limits of what public relations can do for companies in crisis. These three companies all made the same fundamental mistakes in handling their crises. Letting CEOs ad-lib during a crisis can lead to Sound-Bite Hell, as with BP CEO Tony Hayward, whose list of gaffes sank the last of the company's tattered reputation.

Main Source: 
New York Times, August 22, 2010

Reading Between the Lies

Submitted by Chelsea Lawliss on August 4, 2010 - 1:12pm

Iraq's Ministry of Interior recently released a civilian casualty count for the month of July. Their report accounted for the lost lives of 535 Iraqis, making this past month the most violent since June 2008. This escalation in violence can be attributed in part to a situation which Jeremy Scahill, writer of the ground breaking novel, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army and correspondent for Democracy Now! explains as an unstable country. Iraq is as "unstable as it has ever been," Scahill says. "They [Iraqis] can't form a government. The vast majority of people don't have consistent access to potable water, to electricity, to gasoline... Iraq is a disaster right now."

This is what seven years of war has led up to -- a living situation so poor that Scahill felt compelled to mention that many Iraqis are saying, "It was a better under Saddam Hussein."

Are Oil Companies Greenwashing Gulf Coast Cleanup?

Submitted by Anne Landman on August 2, 2010 - 3:04pm

Sandra Bullock stars in Sandra Bullock, Lenny Kravitz, Harry Shearer and a slew of other celebrities jumped on the bandwagon to star in a public service announcement called "Be the One," to support Restore the Gulf, a campaign to encourage people to sign a petition saying, "I demand that a plan to restore America's Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations." But when it was repor

Main Source: 
Think Progress, July 29, 2010

BP "Photoshopped" Gulf Response Pictures

Submitted by Anne Landman on July 24, 2010 - 1:32pm

BP Cockpit photo BP officials have admitted that members of its staff manipulated official images posted on its Gulf of Mexico Response Web site, and promised to stop the practice. The most recent photo, apparently taken from inside a helicopter cockpit, was altered to make it look as though the helicopter was flying.

Main Source: 
UK Telegraph, July 22, 2010

Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters

Submitted by John Stauber on July 9, 2010 - 9:28am

Alice WatersThe celebrity chef Alice Waters is probably the world's most famous advocate of growing and eating local, Organic food. In February 2010 her Chez Panisse Foundation chose as its new Executive Director the wealthy "green socialite" and liberal political activist Francesca Vietor. Vietor's hiring created a serious conflict of interest that has married Waters and her Foundation to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and its scam of disposing of toxic sewage sludge waste as free "organic Biosolids compost" for gardens.

For the first time, thanks to an ongoing "open records" investigation by the Food Rights Network, the public and the press have easy online access to dozens of internal SFPUC files (SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline), documenting the strange tale of Chez Sludge, or how the sewage industry bedded Alice Waters.

Government Bans Reporters in Gulf

Submitted by Anne Landman on July 7, 2010 - 3:02pm

Oil spill birdsThe U.S. Coast Guard put in place a new rule slapping journalists with felony charges, a $40,000 fine and one to five years in prison for coming too close to oil spill clean-up efforts without permission.

Main Source: 
Raw Story, July 4, 2010

BP Buys Search Terms to Redirect Users to Company Web Site

Submitted by Anne Landman on June 8, 2010 - 2:02pm

bplogoBP has purchased search terms relating to the Gulf oil spill disaster on Google, Yahoo and Bing, a move some say is designed to limit the public's exposure to news reporting about the Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe.

Main Source: 
ABC News, June 5, 2010
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