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© 2025 Copyright, Jennifer R. Farmer

The PR Whisperer

Author, Crisis Communications Expert, Strategic Communications Advisor

Tag: crisis management

Why the PR Team and the Legal Team Must Both Be Included in Crisis Management

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This year has been marred by jaw-dropping scandals and public relations crises. If these crisis situations have taught us anything, is it that the public relations team and the legal team must be in sync.

The legal team is focused on protecting a client’s interests or defending against wrong-doing. The public relations team is focused on managing public perception. When there is a crisis situation, organizations needs both legal and public relations assistance.

However sometimes we see public statements that may cause legal trouble down the line. In other situations, we see actions that may make legal sense but result in souring public opinion. For instance, DayStar Network was recently embroiled in a scandal over, among other things, allegations its president covered up the sexual abuse of her grandchild. The company’s legal team is alleged to have sent threat letters or cease and desist notices to some of YouTubers and at least one journalist. The move emboldened the content creators to continue to cover the crisis. The legal move gave oxygen to a story that its subjects likely wanted to dissipate. 

With high profile cases, it is common for the leadership of a company to close ranks and limit the number of people who know the details of a matter. However, crisis situations are the precise moment when companies need the input of trained strategic communications leaders or public relations professionals.

If anyone is included in crisis communications discussions with the leadership of an organization, it should be senior level public relations leaders as well as the legal team. Both parties are valuable and both perspectives must be included. 

Jennifer R. Farmer is a public relations executive and bakery lover. See her other posts here.

Public Relations Practitioners, Including Publicists, Just Received a Critical Reminder

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August 18, 2023

The indictment of Trevian C. Kutti is a sobering reminder for public relations practitioners – including publicists. We are not immune from prosecution just because we have a roster of influential and impressive clients. There is a limit to what we can do.

Everyone wants to be a fixer like Olivia Pope, but a lot of what Olivia Pope did would have landed her in prison. For context, Pope was the fictional character in the political drama series Scandal which was created by Shonda Rhimes and played by Kerry Washington.

Now some readers may scoff at my suggestion and say, “I could never do anything that could be construed as illegal.” It is true that many public relations practitioners have the intention of operating ethically. But that doesn’t mean failure isn’t possible.

If you like to think of yourself as “problem solver,” which many people in public relations do, you could make a costly mistake that could compromise your reputation. I also believe that we should be on guard when we believe we cannot fail, because pride is a prerequisite for failure.

Additionally, most public relations practitioners want to please their clients – but we must have a standard or line that we will not cross even if it rankles clients or other people around us. At the end of the day, one of the most important things we can do as public relations practitioners is to guard our reputation and credibility. I learned this early in my career.

When I was cutting my teeth as a young communications director for the Service Employees International Union District 1199 (WKO), a mentor shared impressed upon me the importance of maintaining my credibility. He told me that if I lost my credibility, I would be useless to my employer because our work hinges on cultivating and maintaining the trust of journalists and others whom the organization relied on to take our story to the masses. I never forgot this instruction or lesson. In fact, it was a key plank in my 2017 book, “Extraordinary PR, Ordinary Budget: A Strategy Guide.”

What is more, public relations professionals must be especially careful when engaging with high-profile clients. The more power a client has, the greater the likelihood that the client and the people around them – including their public relations team – could become temporarily untethered to reality. No one is immune to this. Public relations practitioners must be sober-minded, focused, and cautious.

Now, let’s be clear; I do not know Kutti nor have any more insight into the allegations she is facing than anyone else. But this situation offers critical reminders for people in the field of public relations. It is an invitation to remember that we cannot allow hubris, powerful connections, or a fat bank account to deceive us into thinking that we are untouchable.

At the end of the day, each of us is one choice or a series of choices away from a bad decision. As I shared in my book “First and Only: What Black Women Say About Thriving at Work and in Life,” a history of doing the right thing is not inoculation from future failure. We must walk circumspectly day after day, and year after year. This includes operating with integrity, and vigorously protecting our credibility.

Jennifer R. Farmer is an author and public relations practitioner.

 

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