Integrated Strategic Communication: COMM 306
syllabus | schedule of events | student blogs

 

Chapter 19 discusses crisis management. This is a growing area of strategic communication and while many firms handle all aspects of strategic communication, some firms are now specializing in crisis communication (Think Olivia Pope’s office on Scandal – okay, maybe not exactly like that). Crisis communication is both preventative and restorative – it can both manage likely crises before they happen and deal with the repercussions when a crisis does occur.

For this lab, choose one of the following crises and research it. Share with your readers three lessons learned from this crisis, based on your understanding of the information in our text about crisis communication. Also, explain what might have been done differently in retrospect.

• JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Malfunction (p. 394 in your book)
• Lance Armstrong’s Doping Announcement
• Penn State’s Child Molestation Cover-Up
• Reese Witherspoon’s Arrest for Obstructing an Investigation
• Fareed Zakaria’s Plagiarism Scandal
• Kanye West steals Taylor Swift’s microphone during VMAs

Submitting this assignment

Write your response in a well-crafted blog post in the style of an “Op-Ed” (as listed in Chapter 16 of your text). Embed a video of a news story about the crisis in your post (with appropriate citation, as always). Be sure to add your own perspective and include the 5 major elements of the Op-Ed for maximum impact.