Ep. 521: How Ministry Leaders Should Respond To A PR Crisis

Here at MinistryWatch, we often report on organizations in crisis. One of the things that continues to interest me about these situations is the way Christian organizations respond to these crises. Some of them do a good job of staying in front of the crisis, or at least attempting to do so. But others are either caught by surprise, don’t know what to do, or do the wrong thing. They seem to have forgotten the lessons of the Watergate scandal that happened more than 50 years ago. One of the key lessons from that era has become almost a cliché in the world of journalism and public relations. And that lesson is this: “It ain’t the crime, it’s the cover-up that will get you.”

A case study in how to handle a PR crisis showed up a few months ago when the CEO of the technology company Astronomer was caught at a Coldplay concert with a woman who was not his wife. A “fan cam” video went viral, and the result was that CEO getting fired from his job. The incident ignited a national conversation about morality among leaders, as well as the appropriate way for an organization to handle such a crisis.

Phil Cooke wrote about that. Phil has been on the program before, and he’s become one of my “go to guys” when it comes to ministry leadership issues, especially when they concern media and communications.

Phil Cooke is a working producer who spent many years in Hollywood. He also has a Ph. D. in theology.  He’s the author of a half-dozen books on media and marketing and has been a contributor to Fast Company, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.  He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as well as the Producer’s Guild of America.

Here are some links I promised in today’s program:

For past episodes I’ve done with Phil, click here.

To see Phil’s website, click here.

To read Phil’s article on the Astonomer CEO, click here.

The producer for today’s program is Jeff McIntosh. Until next time, may God bless you.

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