Arthur SolomonArthur Solomon

2016 was a good year for the merlins of PR, those in our business who call themselves “crisis specialists” though any reasonable person would admit their results are less than magical.

Before 2016 was a week old, negative press coverage was everywhere, warming the hearts of those in our craft who believe bad news is good news. There were so many crises, I’ll zero in on the situations that caught the public’s attention for more than a few news cycles, as well as cases that probably brought joy to crisis specialists.

• In late 2015, Al Jazeera reported that there might be use of Human Growth Hormone by American football hero and uber commercial spokesman Peyton Manning because, said the report, there were shipments of HGH to his wife. Manning threatened to sue but didn’t, maybe because doing so would have given Al Jazeera attorneys the opportunity to probe the actual charges against the football salesperson. Despite the accusation, criticized for faulty reporting by supporters of the NFL and Manning, it received prominent coverage by non-football media in 2016, when on Jan. 3, CNN’s "Reliable Sources" and Fox News’ "Media Buzz" did segments on the accusation, though it was largely ignored by TV and print football beat reporters.

• Even the dead couldn’t escape from negative PR, when on Sunday, Jan. 3, CNN premiered a devastating documentary about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs titled “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.” And web tabloid Radar Online revisited old and discredited child pornography allegations against Michael Jackson on the seventh anniversary of his death, even though Jackson was acquitted of child molestation in 2005.

• Because of its frequent negative coverage, Volkswagen was a darling of crisis PR experts. Its unwanted media overage began on Jan. 5, when the New York Times led its Business Day section with a story headlined, “U.S. Sues Volkswagen for Cheating on Emissions Tests.” This story had multiple follow-ups including the Federal Trade Commission’s suing the auto maker for deceptive advertising.

• The most important long-lived PR crisis belongs to Hillary Clinton, whose email problems made headline news before, during and after the presidential campaign.

As I’ve often said for many years, despite the best efforts of crisis specialists, only the media can decide when to stop reporting on a crisis. A few more examples:

• Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno qualified for this list again, when New York Times stories on Jan. 23, May 6 and July 13 reported on court hearings concerning the child molestation disgrace at Penn State. The Wall Street Journal also reported on court documents on July 13.

• Late in 2016, a movie about the Deepwater Horizon disaster was released, causing a BP spokesman to claim foul because, he said, there were inaccuracies, a change in corporate culture at BP since the accident and that it had been six-and-a-half years since the disaster. The BP declaration didn’t seem to convince the media, because on the day the movie opened on Sept. 30, CNN interviewed the wife of a worker killed during the off shore explosion. The movie also attracted major print mediacoverage. In its Oct. 1-2 edition, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about the movie saying, “Such films have often helped shape public perception of events, even after companies spent millions on public relations campaigns in their defense.”

• The New York Times, in a masterly researched and detailed article on March 25, reported that the league that lies under counted concussions dating back to the 1990s. Adding to the NFL’s untrustworthiness, an arbitrator ruled that the league wrongly pocketed more than $50 million from the players.

• In order to win business in China, JPMorgan Chase was fined by the feds more than $260 million because of foreign bribery.

• The Wells Fargo & Co. bank was the recipient of numerous negative stories because of opening up unauthorized customer accounts and other banking shortcomings.

• The most unexpected addition to the list that no company or individual wants to be on was PBS for deliberately not telling viewers that the fireworksdisplay on its “A Capitol Fourth”telecast was file footage.
As the year was drawing to a conclusion, two political PR crises made headlines in December:

• President Obama received criticism from Republicans and high ranking members of his own party for allowing a U.N. vote against Israel to pass. A few days later, Secretary of State Kerry’s harsh anti-Israeli speech added to the criticism.

• Just as the curtain was closing on 2016’s act, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a lesson on how to turn a PR crisis into a PR triumph by not only refusing to expel U.S. diplomats in retaliation for Obama’s doing so to Russian officials, but by also inviting U.S. diplomats’ children to a New Year/Christmas party at the Kremlin.

• A last minute PR crisis occurred before 2017 was officially sanctioned, when Mariah Carey and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” reps accused the other for Carey’s problem-plagued performance shortly before 2016 past into history.

• The political pundits and pollsters win the award for being most wrong in 2016, both of whom assured us of a Clinton election victory for more than a year.

My wish for companies and individuals that experienced PR crises in 2016 is that 2017 brings better fortune. If a crisis specialist is needed, choose carefully, because as they say in the financial business, “past performance is no guarantee of future success.” Don’t be bamboozled by fancy presentations extolling past successes. Demand that the crisis team craft a program specifically tailored for your problem and don’t be shy about telling the Merlins to go back to the drawing board. As I’ve told clients for many years — and have written many times on this site — in our business there is no one size that fits all.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP at Burson-Marsteller. He now is a contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on PR projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].