We see it every day.  A company has a public relations crisis and makes it even worse by botching the response.  It’s like a watching a train wreck in slow motion.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  I recently asked Robert J. Fisher, a veteran public relations executive, counselor and consultant with over four decades of experience in the fields of public relations, marketing, communications and advertising, about the biggest mistakes companies make when dealing with the media.

Robert is President of Fisher & Associates, Inc. (F&A), a Los Angeles area-based public relations and communications firm which has served a broad range of businesses and industries on local, national and international levels for more than three decades.  He has extensive experience in crisis communications having represented clients both throughout the U.S. and internationally who were in crisis situations.  He is also a recognized media relations expert who has long served as an expert media information source and analyst.  Here is what he had to say:

The critical factor here is to understand what the role of the media is in a crisis situation both from the entity’s perspective and that of the media.  To the entity in crisis, the media is an invaluable conduit to disseminate information to present its side of the story and by doing so, help to reduce the negative perception that might be out there while at the same shape opinion more favorable to the entity.  However, from the media’s point of view, its task is obtain all relevant and factual information it can on the crisis and provide it to its audience as quickly and thoroughly as possible.  It is not the media’s job to be a “communications tool” for the entity in trouble. [Read more…]