Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (11/09):
Sadly, you have recited what I hope many of us were thinking about those victims. It has always been, "if you can't trust JoePa. whom can you trust?" Whoever these victims have been, they will either be swept aside in this debacle or, worse, somehow be exposed by some hacker looking for public hoopla as with the Murdoch gang. Let's at least hope that the good this man has done is not simply "interred with his bones."
Alum (11/09):
The kids rallying on Paterno's lawn is one of the most embarrassing and disgraceful things I've seen.
Fed Up In NYC! (11/09):
Not often on the same page Mr Foley, but in this case- spot on! SHAME SHAME SHAME on all of them. And that squeaky clean image he so cherished- had more to do with him manipulating reality then him being so righteous.
[email protected] (11/11):
To Fed Up In NYC! You are entirely correct. (See Fed Up, we can agree.)
Fed Up In NYC! (11/11):
HA! Thank you Mr. Solomon... despite our differences your insights are always appreciated and duly noted! Warm regards sir!
Bill Huey, Strategic Communications (11/10):
A legend falls, and a star is born:
John Surma, chairman and CEO of U.S. Steel and vice chairman of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, who handled that hot mess of a presser about as well as I’ve seen any CEO perform.
Surma was credible, responsive to good questions, non-responsive to hypothetical fishing lines, and bearer of a message: the board sets policy and direction, and the academic bureaucrats who run the place will be held accountable for their actions (or inactions, in this case). Would that more corporate boards did the same.
Brian M (11/10):
I'm almost heisitant to criticize Penn State's PR because this story is still developing and is so bad PR really can't fix much.
Wes Pedersen (11/10):
There are kids at Penn State who are protesting Paterno's ouster. What in the world is wrong with them? He was covering up molestation. The surprise in this mess is that it was not exposed long ago. There is simply no way that in his many years Paterno did not hear about these incidents.
[email protected] (11/10):
How anyone can make excuses for the Penn State officials cover-up and for Joe Pa --"after all, he did what he had to do"-- is beyond me. The entire affair is a disgrace. Saying shame on all concerned is not enough. As for the pro-Joe rioting students, I'll paraphrase a famous line of year's ago: "have you know decency to put a football program above what happened to the children?"
Mr. Deerfield (11/11):
Penn State has set back crisis communications contingency planning 20 years...they knew full well this day would come and were caught completely flat-footed!
Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (11/11):
The children at Penn State who overturned media vehicles while blaming media for telling the truth should be required to pay the bills for the damage they did....as should all those hitherto respected powers of the University to the victims and their families. Nothing can cure the emotional and other damage, but it would be worse if too little is done since it is already too late.
What remains unanswered is why it took so long to muster the case while so msny kids continued to be victimized....and why that young man who is seen coaching players esch weekend has not been held ewuslly to account for not st lest trying to stop whst he said he witnessed. Imagery obviously is not reality.
John Ruane (11/11):
To Kevin and all who commented, thank you. Watching ESPN, there are commentators taking this stance, which I have apprecited, but when they get to the football game this weekend and how this scandal will impact the players, who cares!!!! Cancel the football game. It's a football game. The University has been incredibly irresponsible for more than a decade. The NCAA should just shut the program down until this entire mess is cleared up, then decide about sports at the school.
[email protected] (11/11):
Re Crises Planning: In Penn State's situation, I don't think all the planning by all the crises PR experts in the world could have helped. This, like other major crises, has a life of its own and will live until the last investigation of the charges are completed and issued and covered by the press. That will be followed, probably, by criminal and civil charges, which will be covered by the media; also the appointment of new Penn State officials and athletic staff will generate additional coverage. When self-inflicted wounds like this occur, only the passage of time can heal it.
Even if a crises adviser would have said, "clean house immediately," (which has not yet been done) the story could not be contained. The only thing that might have put Penn State in a good light is to suspend its football operations for a few years, or at least until the story runs its course.
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