Comments on: Oprah scandal: A lesson in crisis management and a correction

By: Shay Pausa

Shay Pausa — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:22:19 +0000

Being a victim of abuse, I’m sure this incident was particularly personal for her. I commend her for the action she has taken.

From a public relations stand point, it was masterful in putting Dr. Phil out there. He was on Today, Access Hollywood etc to share Oprah’s personal devastation and the action she was taking. She was able to avoid talking directly to the press and yet was able to use this relationship to get her message out in the public forum.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:33:20 +0000

The Associated Press did Oprah a huge favor with a story headlined “Oprah Wept at Learning of School Assault” with the lede sentence, “Oprah Winfrey said Monday she wept after hearing that a dormitory matron at her school for disadvantaged girls was accused of indecent assault on pupils, hours after the woman was freed on bail.”

That story ran on more news Web sites than I could count. Forget crisis management. Find a sympathetic wire service and “problem solved.”

By: garth

garth — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:07:11 +0000

If the statements you attribute to Oprah are true, “the buck stops here” & their background checks were inadequate seems to me this is an admission of negliegence on her part.

So for additional crisis control and true demonstration of self evident guilt she sent a large check to a settlement trust fund for the girls harmed.

Go even further an reveal the amount stating that this may not be final settlement amount but that it will be at least this amount.

Sends a huge message I think to ward off critics and at the same time helps the girls as they go through a sad time. Let’s hope the girls can recover.