Crisis Management

Spirits Crisis Controlled

by Laura Miller — April 1, 2002 - 12:00am

PR Week describes how the Distilled Spirits Council, an alcohol industry trade group, handled a "crisis" when the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) released a study claiming that children consume 25% of alcohol sold in the US. "Such a study could do irreparable harm to the alcohol industry," says PR Week. DSC pored through the raw data used in CASA's study, rerunning the numbers "in hope of finding some miscalculation" and ready to jump if there was a mistake.

Main Source: 
PR Week, April 1, 2002

Andersen Holds "Spontaneous" PR Stunt

by Laura Miller — March 22, 2002 - 12:00am

A flashy publicity stunt outside a Houston federal courthouse accompanied accounting firm Arthur Andersen's not guilty plea to Justice Department obstruction charges. "As Andersen pleaded not guilty inside the courtroom, outside the firm launched a public relations blitz designed to portray government prosecutors as overzealous and heartless to the plight of its 28,000 U.S. employees," USA Today's Greg Farrell reports.

Main Source: 
USA Today, March 21, 2002; O'Dwyer's PR Daily, March 22, 2002

Crisis Managers Keep NBC in High Spirits

by Sheldon Rampton — March 4, 2002 - 12:00am

NBC has hired a PR firm that specializes in crisis management to help deflect mounting criticism over its decision to carry hard-liquor ads. Shepardson, Stern & Kaminsky will help the network fend off criticism from groups like the American Medical Association, which recently ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, saying that NBC has "let down America's children."

Main Source: 
MediaWeek.com, March 4, 2002

Enron Whistle-Blower Offered Lay a PR Plan

by Laura Miller — February 15, 2002 - 12:00am

"Sherron Watkins, Enron's VP of corporate development, who in August predicted accounting scandals would destroy the company, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Feb. 14 that she offered a PR campaign to former chairman Kenneth Lay," O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes. "In her Oct. 30 memo to Lay, the former accountant said she outlined for him ways to handle the PR crisis and urged him to lay the blame on the company's then CEO Jeffrey Skilling and CFO Andrew Fastow. 'I was providing this to Mr.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 15, 2002

The Skewering of Skilling

by Sheldon Rampton — February 12, 2002 - 12:00am

Last week, PR industry pundit Fraser Seitel opined that former Enron CEO Ken Lay made a PR blunder by refusing to testify before Congress. "You should answer every question squarely and straightforwardly. Duck nothing," he advised. This week he thinks that Lay's partner in crime, Jeff Skilling, also blundered by the way he did testify.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 12, 2002

Helping Oppressed Corporations Fight the Mighty Activists

by Anonymous — January 31, 2002 - 3:21pm

Nick Nichols, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group, Ltd., has a book out titled Rules for Corporate Warriors: How to Fight and Survive Attack Group Shakedowns, which purports to offer advice for the once-proud corporations hunted into near-extinction by the overwhelming power of left-wing activists and their allies in the anti-corporate media.

Main Source: 
ConservativeBookStore.com--Pick of the Week

Pity Poor Enron

by Sheldon Rampton — January 30, 2002 - 12:00am

M.A. Shute, a former staffer from the Hill and Knowlton PR firm, orchestrated the tearful media interview of Linda Lay, wife of embattled former Enron CEO Ken Lay. The Lays are trying to portray themselves as victims rather than villains in the company's financial collapse. According to PR pro Jeremy Garlington, however, putting the wife in front of cameras is a "flawed media strategy." It was a mistake, he says, to claim that the Lays are "on the verge of financial ruin ...

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 29 & 30, 2002

Accountants Hire PR Help

by Laura Miller — January 24, 2002 - 12:00am

PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has hired Omnicom's Clark & Weinstock "as the Enron bankruptcy has 'put an unprecedented focus on the accounting profession and its self-regulatory system.'" PR Week reports AICPA has retained the Weiser Group in Chicago "to help in its effort to restore faith in the auditing and accounting system." Meanwhile, according to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, one of Anderson's PR flacks has taken issue with an National Public Radio report

Main Source: 
PR Week, January 21, 2002; O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 18 & January 24, 2002

Enron Scandal Has Andersen Recruiting PR, Lobbyists

by Laura Miller — January 14, 2002 - 12:00am

PR trade publication The Holmes Report writes: "Accounting giant Andersen--the former Arthur Andersen--is reportedly looking to recruit crisis management and other communications experts as it faces mounting criticism for its role in the collapse of Enron." Anderson has already hired the Virginia-based firm Hartz Consulting and retains Ketchum as its PR agency of record. But the company is expected to enlist more PR consultants as it faces Congressional investigations, a federal criminal inquiry and lawsuits from shareholders.

Main Source: 
The Holmes Report, January 14, 2002; PR Week, January 14, 2002

The Enron Blame Game

by Sheldon Rampton — December 30, 2001 - 12:00am

A subtle blame game may be developing between two former executives most widely suspected of playing key roles in Enron Corp.'s collapse. Former Chief Executive Jeff Skilling and ousted Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow have both made carefully controlled media appearances in the company of the attorneys representing them in scores of civil lawsuits and government inquiries extending all the way to Congress. In both instances, the men or their lawyers distanced themselves from blame, suggesting others were responsible.

Main Source: 
Reuters, December 30, 2001
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