Skip to Content

Crisis Communications

A Casebook Approach, 4th Edition

By Kathleen Fearn-Banks

Published September 21st 2010 by Routledge – 388 pages

Series: Routledge Communication Series

Purchasing Options:

eBook Ordering Options

Description

Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach presents case studies of organizational, corporate, and individual crises, and analyzes the communication responses to these situations. Demonstrating how professionals prepare for and respond to crises, as well as how they develop communications plans, this essential text explores crucial issues concerning communication with the news media, employees, and consumers in times of crisis.

Author Kathleen Fearn-Banks examines the steps of choosing the appropriate words to convey a message, selecting the method and channels for delivering the message, and identifying and targeting the most appropriate publics or audiences. She also addresses such important topics as avoiding potential mismanagement of communication in crisis situations.

Key features of this fourth edition are:

  • six new cases, including several international crises

  • current discussion of communications technology as it relates to crises

  • a Companion Website -- www.routledge.com/textbooks/fearn-banks -- with additional cases as well as supplemental materials for students and classroom resources for instructors.

A Student Workbook is also available for use with this volume, providing additional pedagogy for each chapter, including discussion questions, activities, key terms, case exercises, and worksheets.

Utilizing both classic and contemporary cases of real-world situations, Crisis Communications provides students in public relations and business with real-world perspectives and valuable insights for professional responses to crises. It is intended for use in crisis communications, crisis management, and PR case studies courses.

Contents

1 Crisis Communications Today

2 Crisis Communications Theory

  • Apologia Theory
  • Image Restoration Theory
  • Decision Theory
  • Diffusion Theory
  • Excellence Theory

3 Communications To Prevent Crises

  • News Media
  • Internal Publics
  • Customers/Consumers

4 Communications When a Crisis Strikes

  • Communicating with the News Media
  • Communicating with Lawyers
  • Communicating with Internal Publics
  • Communicating with External Publics
  • Communicating Directly with the Masses

5 Social Media and Crisis Communications

6. Rumors and Cybercrises

7 "Textbook" Crisis Communications Cases

  • Case: Johnson & Johnson and the Tylenol Murders
  • Case: Exxon and the Valdez Oil Spill
  • Exxon’s Concern for Alaska
  • Exxon’s Animal Rescue Centers
  • Exxon’s Success at Restoring Tourism

8 Culture Crises: Foreign and Domestic

  • Case: Saginaw Valley State University and the Theater Controversy
  • Case: AIDS in Africa
  • Uganda
  • Botswana
  • Zambia
  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe
  • Swaziland
  • Case: Texas A & M University and the Bonfire Tragedy

9 Environmental Crisis

  • Case: Häagen Dazs and the Honey Bees

10 Natural Disasters

  • Case: New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina

11 Transportation Crises

  • Case: US Airways and the Emergency Landing on the Hudson
  • Case: Holland America and Cruise Crises

12 Product Failure and Product Tampering

  • Case: Yuhan-Kimberly and Baby’s Wet-Wipes
  • Case: Maple Leaf and the Battle Against Listeria
  • Case: Wendy’s and the Finger-in-the-Chili Hoax

13 Crises of Death and Injury

  • Case: Columbine High School and the Shooting Tragedy
  • Case: Metro Transit: Driver Shot, Bus Flies Over a Bridge

14 Individuals In Crises

15 The Crisis Communications Plan

Appendix A: Generic Crisis Communications Plan for a Large Company

Appendix B: Crisis Communications Plan for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission

Appendix C: Crisis Communications Plan for a Fictitious Small Business

Author Bio

Kathleen Fearn-Banks is Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. She joined the faculty in 1990, after 25 years in the communications professions. Her professional experience includes as a feature writer at the Los Angeles Times; a newswriter/ producer/ reporter for KNXT-TV (now KCBS) in Los Angeles; publicist and Media Relations Manager for NBC Television Network. She was vice president of Development and Public Relations for The Neighbors of Watts, an entertainment industry non-profit which raised funds for daycare centers in underprivileged areas of Los Angeles.

Links

Name: Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach, 4th Edition (Paperback) – Routledge 
Description: By Kathleen Fearn-Banks. Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach presents case studies of organizational, corporate, and individual crises, and analyzes the communication responses to these situations. Demonstrating how professionals prepare for and respond to crises, as well...
Categories: Work & Organizational Psychology, Public Relations, Public Relations, Public Relations, Public Relations in Media