PR Crisis Discussion

In a blog post, discuss a company that had a PR crisis.  What was the crisis and how did they handle it?  How could they have measured their communications effectiveness during and after the crisis? What could they have done differently?
 
Though not exactly a company a recent example that I think of when it comes to a public relations crisis was the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal at Pennsylvania State University in 2011. That alone would have been enough to get any organization in hot water however the crisis grew further when it was revealed that university officials were aware in part of the happenings but made the decision to cover it up. The damages of this situation were great in many capacities. Members of the athletic department including the head coach Joe Paterno were fired and many high ranking individuals, including the school's president, were forced to resign. In addition to this the school had to commission an internal investigation and pay fines to the NCAA and Big Ten Conference. Ongoing investigations continue to be conducted at the school to determine whether additional laws were broken. Perhaps the greatest damage was to the school's reputation which created a public relation nightmare of significant proportions.

When this event began to surface the response by the school's leadership was far less than superb. Heavy criticism has been placed on the school after these allegations for trying to protect and defend Sandusky and the other involved individuals. Sandusky was honorably discharged from the coaching staff however he retained access to the athletic facilities. Overall the entire situation was a PR disaster that is nigh impossible to recover from any time soon. Several released from the school were made to try and regain some reputation but by this point the communications were almost meaningless as more information surfaced. After it was all said and done the communications from the school have seemed to taper off, probably under the realization that time is all they could really the only option at that point. 

What Penn State could have done differently goes all the way back to when the staff first made the decision to cover up the whole sex abuse situation. A more public relation conscious culture would have known from the start that reporting the event to the authorities would have been better for the school's reputation than trying to bury it and hoping it disappeared. Defending Sandusky and staff was also a big mistake by the school that should have been done differently. This doesn't necessary mean they had to agree or disagree with whether the staff was guilty but they could have just reported they are running investigations and await for the conclusion.