Public relations in the recent Foley scandal.

Public relations strategies practiced during crisis situations destine the future of the corporation, organization, and individual. We know from classical cases such as Tylenol being the perfect example for “good crisis communication” and Exxon being the “bad crisis communication.”

In this extent, the recent e-mail scandal of former Republican Mark Foley is reported as a huge “public relations no-no.” According to an article GOP mishandled crisis management, clearly the public relations person for Mark Foley needs to refresh his or her knowledge dealing with crisis However, it is not fair to put the blame on the pr person only for this messy scandal.

While it is evident there are certain factors a public relations practitioners should bring into context during a crisis situation (scholars such as Murphy points out certain ways to communicate with the public during crisis situations such as be frank and sincere, take the responsibility and so on), what do you think is the most important role of a PR person during a crisis? Do you feel that in many cases, public relations people are only invited to the table when something finally turns over?