CRISIS COMMUNICATION

1. Directions for the Crisis Paper
The paper will be completed on the Crisis Communication about the AMTRAK crash near Philadelphia, PA on May 12, 2015. You may not use any of the case studies in your text titled “This is PR The realities of Public Relations 11th Edition”. Your paper should be 9 pages long, use APA formatting, and include a list of the all sources used.
You will need to cover the following in your paper:
Part One:
� What company you are investigating and why it interested you.
� What is the history of the company?�
� What was the company�s reputation (before the crisis)?
Part Two:
� What was the initial event that created the crisis?
� What type of crisis event is this?
Part Three:
� Create a timeline that follows the communication of the company and the methods /channels they used�spokesperson, etc. (You will need this for your spokesperson statement.) The timeline begins with the initial event that created the crisis.
Part Four:
� Access the Web site of the company.� Do you see any attempt to communicate with employees, customers, investors, and other interested parties on the Web site?� Describe what you see related to communicating with stakeholders about the crisis.
Part Five:
� Evaluate the crisis communication of the organization with the crisis information/recommendations in chapter 12 of the text.� What do you see that was effective/ what was not? Explain.
Part Six:
� Reflections based on your research.�
� What did you learn about crisis communication from your reading of the texts and your research for this paper?
Another source for information is from Corporate Communication, pp. 270-273 (This is PR The realities of Public Relations 11th Edition).
� 1.�Get control of the situation.
� 2.�Gather as much information as possible.
� 3.�Set up a centralized crisis management center.
� 4.�Communicate early and often.
� 5.�Understand the media�s mission in a crisis.
� 6.�Communicate directly with affected constituents.
� 7.�Remember the business must continue.
� 8.�Make plans to avoid another crisis immediately.