The Institute for Crisis Management released their 18th Annual Crisis Report recently, which includes the important caveat that “This does not represent every crisis, but those business news editors determined of interest to their readers.”
Compared to 2008, crises were up slightly. The most significant increase was in negative news coverage. This has been attributed to many things, but the one that stands out is the emergence of social media as a news source. Workplace violence was also up significantly, perhaps due to frustrations from the sagging economy.
Of course, nobody’s forgotten the numerous food recalls. From beef to baby formula, these really ran the gamut, throwing businesses across the globe into crisis response mode and deeply shaking consumer confidence.
What this last year has really shown is that crisis can bring any organization to its knees. The only way to survive is through solid crisis prevention and response planning. That, along with a strong reputation management strategy, will allow your business to thrive, even when others falter.
But, at the same time, I hope that the folks at ICM start to expand their report beyond what business editors consider to be important, as the traditional media is becoming steadily less impactful, and because crises affect many organizations that are not businesses and hence not usually covered in “the business pages.”
JB
Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com