Articles by Jonathan Bernstein on ArticleSnatch.com

Employer Mishandling of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - A Preventable Crisis

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:19:01 -0500

The Story of Kay Morris-Robertson When British executive Kay Morris came to Los Angeles from London in the fall of 2007, she felt like she had the world on a string. She was rising in her career, taking on an exciting new job at the request of her prestigious employer, and happily in love. A year later it had all come crashing down and she found herself alone, traumatized, and held against her will in a police psycho unit through the machinations of the very company that had brought her to America, Westfield Holdings. Westfield Holdings is part of the $62 billion, Australian-owned Westfield Group (ASX: WDC), operator of some 119 shopping malls in the U.S., UK, Australia and New Zealand. How this all could have happened is a question she still asks herself 10 months after leaving her job. To be fair, not all Morris-Robertson's misfortunes can be traced to her employer. **End Summary** Topics: kay morris]]> westfield]]> westfield holdings]]> crisis management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc.

Google Trends, New Tool For Crisis Management

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:25:00 -0500

How much effort should you put into reputation management programs centered on particular company or brand names, or the names of individuals under attack? Are people really looking at the criticized terms a lot? What parts of the country or world are more vulnerable? Some very expensive and often proprietary diagnostic tools have been developed for this purpose, but I was very pleased to learn of a new, FREE tool from Google - Google Trends, which I anticipate will be very useful to crisis managers. At Google Trends, you enter a keyword - or multiple keywords you wish to compare - and the system will tell you how popular those terms are: By the top 10 cities where the term(s) is/are searched, worldwide. By the top 10 regions where the term(s) is/are searched,worldwide. By the top 10 languages in which the term(s) is/are searched, worldwide. In some cases, if the stats are low enough, the search results may not show a "top 10" but, rather, a "top (number of significant results)." In one example below, there were only four results. **End Summary** Topics: crisis response]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis management]]> reputation management]]> public relations]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

Ignoring Wall Street Rumors

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:23:07 -0500

I periodically share case histories of organizations which, in my opinion, badly botched the task of crisis communications. Some companies learn from such mistakes -- if they survive. [Prologue] Stodgy Savings was a 50-year-old financial institution traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It had never had a significant crisis and had survived the Resolution Trust Corporation's purge of the U.S. savings and loan industry. Its stock was usually perceived as a solid, conservative "buy" based on consistent and predictable earnings. Its only internal public relations professional was focused on product promotion and investor relations was handled strictly by the CFO and CEO. [The Crisis] On a Monday afternoon, Stodgy's stock, then listed at $80 per share, begins to slip significantly, and by end of day was down to $70. There had been no company news to explain the slip and competitors' stock was doing well. After the market closed that day, when Stodgy's CFO was asked for a comment by a Wall Street Journal reporter, his response was, "We don't comment on stock price fluctuations." On Tuesday, the slip continued, with the stock down to $65 and concerned analysts and investors swamping Stodgy's phone lines. **End Summary** Topics: crisis communications]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> crisis management]]> reputation management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

Making Amends

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:20:54 -0500

There has been a great deal of media coverage recently about public apologies and mea culpas offered for the harm caused by organizations or individuals. There are many benefits to humbly admitting wrong and moving on. However, an apology is only half of the formula necessary to put negative publicity and reputation damage behind you -- and it's usually the least-important half. The other critical element is making amends. Dictionaries define "amends" as "recompense for grievance or injury (American Heritage) or "to put right (Merriam-Webster)" or -- and this is my favorite, because it is plain English and speaks to the heart of the amends concept -- "to do something good to show that you are sorry about something you have done (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)." Hence, if what you have done -- intentionally or inadvertently -- has caused measurable damage, amends would be to repair, or offer some means of repairing, that damage, to include emotional or psychological damage, not just material and financial. Here's a simple example: At many restaurants, if you are served a well-done steak when you have ordered one medium-rare, you will get an apology from the server and they'll cook you another steak. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> media training]]> crisis communications]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

Mystery Shopping to Prevent Crises

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:19:12 -0500

The concept of "Mystery Shoppers" has uses far beyond the aisles and cash registers of retail stores. Retailers and wise businesses that are highly focused on customer service have long employed people to secretly shop as if they were actual customers or clients, and then report their perceptions to management. If you apply this concept to testing how an organization performs in multiple categories -- not just customer service -- you will be able to detect the seeds of budding crises well in advance of serious damage being caused. Secret shopping can be done in virtually any industry to evaluate vulnerabilities in: * Physical and Information Security. How easy is it to just walk in to a facility unchallenged? To walk out with a re-usable Visitor's Badge? To see the contents of files containing what should be confidential information? Would it have been easy to just pick up a flash drive or CD-ROM off someone's desk? Are valuable products placed in a manner that would allow someone to easily pick them up and stick them in a pocket or purse? Are people talking about company business within easy earshot of a visitor? * Human Resources . **End Summary** Topics: crisis communications]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> crisis management]]> reputation management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

The H1N1 Effect

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:17:23 -0500

In the first two years after the term "Swine Flu" was used to describe the illness that mutated and jumped toH1N1 WHO Logo humans from pigs, the U.S. Pork Industry suffered losses estimated to be in excess of $5 billion. This despite the reality that what came to be known more frequently as H1N1 - partially as a result of the outcries from farmers - cannot be contracted from eating pork. And those loss figures do not, of course, include either the collateral damage caused to meat retailers and restaurants or comparable figures from other regions of the world. Global reaction to the threat of BSE - most of us know it as "Mad Cow Disease" - was far in excess to the actual threat to humans. Have you heard anyone say, during the past year or two, "I'll never buy anything made in China again" or the more frequent variation "I'll never eat food containing ingredients from China again - or give it to my pets." Any number of U.S. **End Summary** Topics: crisis response]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis management]]> reputation management]]> public relations]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

What Good is a Plan No One Knows About?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:15:46 -0500

Tell me if this sounds familiar. A mayor, city manager or other official responsible for implementing a disaster response plan (a) does have such a plan; (b) does implement the plan following a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or major flood; and (c) gets crucified by his/her constituency for following that plan - to the letter. The classic and all-too-common mistake on the part of the governmental official is that MOST of the people who will be impacted by the plan HAVE NO ADVANCE IDEA of how it will affect them. They don't know they're likely to be denied access to their homes until a certain degree of safety can be assured, until basic infrastructure services can be provided, etc. They don't know that city services will be assigned on a priority basis - and that your average homeowner isn't a priority in most cases. It's all about expectations. I've heard it said that "expectations are often pre-meditated resentments." Most who are not familiar with disaster response, either professionally or through the school of hard knocks, have default expectations far more optimistic than reality will grant them. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> media training]]> public relations]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

Why Should Lawyers Care About PR?

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:14:00 -0500

A Pyrrhic victory, defined, is a "victory won at excessive cost." It is quite possible, for example, that some of the indicted or civilly sued business executives now in the news could, ultimately, be exonerated by the courts. But at what cost? Through effective preventive crisis management, such as vulnerability audits, crisis planning and training (including media training) -- their crises might have been averted or greatly minimized. Through better response, STARTING THE MOMENT THEIR LEGAL COUNSEL KNEW THAT TROUBLE WAS BREWING, damage from media coverage could have been reduced. Don't discount, by the way, the impact of poorly perceived legal situations on governmental organizations, always sensitive to budget allocations and re-appointment of leaders. Some of my attorney contacts have woken up to the value of asking "what could a crisis management expert do to help my client/organization" shortly after they learn of a new legal matter. That allows us to jointly anticipate and work towards minimizing potential negative reaction to the situation if/when it becomes known to important audiences. In other words, we prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. **End Summary** Topics: crisis communications]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> crisis management]]> reputation management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Prevent Crises by Protecting Your Mobile Device

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:12:28 -0500

It's an odd quirk of human behavior that we will put certain types of information under lock and key and password at home or office, but then make the same information easily accessible to anyone who steals (or finds) our phone or other mobile device. I have helped more than one organization respond to crises which originated with such thefts. And while some types of crises aren't preventable, these situations are, usually employing simple-to-implement measures. Take my Blackberry Tour, for example. By using the built-in password protection system, I can prevent access to the phone and my data. If someone fails to enter the correct password a preset number of times, all my data is wiped! I can restore it 100% from my corporate Enterprise server (and even a private Blackberry user could restore from their backup), but a thief could not unless he/she could quickly guessed my password. Are there hacks around this system? Probably. But most thieves wouldn't have that level of sophistication. I set up my Blackberry so that it defaults to "password required" mode if it has been turned off or if haven't used it in an hour, but there are other options. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis response]]> crisis prevention]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com , a website at which you can access, for no charge, more than 500 articles on crisis management-related topics.

Toxic Mold Crisis Management

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:30:21 -0500

There are, I am told by an attorney in a position to know such things, at least 15,000 mold-related lawsuits currently filed in the United States. All of them, of course, referencing "toxic mold" as if referring to a weapon of mass destruction -- and I believe, playing somewhat on the fear caused by more serious biological threats of the types potentially used by terrorists. Who is vulnerable to allegations of negligence with regard to mold prevention or treatment? Unfortunately, categorically, it can be any entity responsible for building or maintaining a structure used by humans for any purpose. I have seen mold lawsuits and/or negative publicity involving schools, builders, maintenance companies, hotels, public buildings...the list is virtually endless. Regardless of any lawsuit's merit -- and I also understand that no one has yet been found guilty of negligence with regard to mold prevention, although there have been a number of settlements -- the term TOXIC MOLD immediately breeds fear amongst anyone who thinks they or their loved ones may have been exposed. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> reputation management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

How To Manage Citizen Concern

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:06:01 -0500

The following case history is an amalgam of real-life situations with which I've been acquainted. The object is to demonstrate the "wrong way" and the "right way" to manage citizen concern about a corporate mistake. [The Situation] Zelon Manufacturing (a pseudonym) sailed through its local permitting process in Indiana, largely thanks to the reputation of its parent company in another state. Shortly after start-up of operations, however, area residents began to notice, and question, what they considered to be unusually dense plumes of smoke from the site's stacks, and an unpleasant odor downwind, resulting in negative media coverage. Local environmental officials investigated and found that Zelon had installed equipment that was larger and more powerful than those originally specified and, in general, had added to, or modified, quite a bit of the manufacturing process since receiving its permit. It had also failed to apply for the necessary permit revisions. Zelon was told to reduce production by 50% pending completion of the State investigation and a public hearing set for months later. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> public relations]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Managing Online Rumors

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:19:25 -0500

One of my newsletter readers recently asked me, “"In this age of weblogs and other postings, and aside from the usual 'behavior' guidelines for employees, could you provide guidelines for what is appropriate to engage in with respect to Net postings about company business, products, etc.? Among other concerns, we don't want to have a cacophony of conflicting views that might blur our various official messages. Thanks for any thoughts or examples." First, let me note that I'm not an attorney and so I can't speak to the legal considerations inherent in the question. But I obviously work with attorneys enough to know I should issue that caveat. However, from a reputation management/PR perspective, here are some suggested guidelines that have proven effective. Organizations should: 1. Monitor what's being said about them online AT LOCATIONS CONSIDERED CREDIBLE BY THEIR STAKEHOLDERS, internal AND external. 2. Don't make assumptions about what sites/discussion lists/etc. are credible to your stakeholders. Ask them. You may be surprised. 3. Track any trends which appear to be developing -- e.g., particular subjects, allegations and/or damaging facts which recur with increasing frequency, possibly across multiple locations. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> media training]]> public relations]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Risking A Newsmagazine Interview

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:29:06 -0500

One of the greatest challenges facing any public relations professional is dealing with a negative situation that has attracted the interest of a TV "newsmagazine." The King of that Hill, of course, is "60 Minutes" although I understand there are comparably popular shows overseas. Few of us like hearing from the staff of "20/20" either. Sure, both shows have positive feature stories as well, but I believe most Crisis Managers associate the name "Mike Wallace" with the word "interrogation." That said, are there "bad news" situations when it's worth voluntarily risking an appearance on such a show? When even the best media training is often not enough to keep the piranhas at bay? I invite my readers to submit stories of their experiences with such programs, including lessons learned. The following is a case history of a time when I not only voluntarily cooperated -- *I* was the interview subject, and survived. It was a very personal kind of crisis management and, hence, I'm temporarily switching to a first-person, versus third-person narrative. [Initial Situation] The son of a wealthy West Coast family, a college freshman, was kidnapped by persons unknown. There had been a high-figure ransom demand. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> media training]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

The 11 Steps of Crisis Communications

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:58:19 -0400

Crisis: An unstable or crucial time or state of affairs whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary). Every organization is vulnerable to crises. The days of playing ostrich are gone. You can play, but your stakeholders will not be understanding or forgiving because they've watched what happened with Bridgestone-Firestone, Bill Clinton, Arther Andersen, Enron, Worldcom, 9-11, The Asian Tsunami Disaster and Hurricane Katrina. If you don't prepare, you WILL take more damage. And when I look at existing "crisis management" plans when conducting a "crisis document audit," what I often find is a failure to address the many communications issues related to crisis/disaster response. Organizations do not understand that, without adequate communications: · Operational response will break down. · Stakeholders (internal and external) will not know what is happening and quickly be confused, angry, and negatively reactive. · The organization will be perceived as inept, at best, and criminally negligent, at worst. The basic steps of effective crisis communications are not difficult, but they require advance work in order to minimize damage. The slower the response, the more damage is incurred. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

The Importance of Communications Audits

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:17:15 -0400

Do you know exactly what all your important audiences -- internal and external -- think about you TODAY? Not just what they tell you to your face, but what they might say in confidence to others? If not, you are conducting public relations, community relations, advertising, employee relations, even business-to-business communications, on a "best guess" basis. As a result, a percentage, perhaps a high percentage, of your communications will be off-target. They will either not achieve your goal or, worse, damage the chance that the goal will be achieved at some point. The process of collecting in-depth, accurate information regarding your audiences' perceptions is called a communications audit. The audit can be limited -- strictly to determine how to create a public relations or advertising plan, for example -- or it can be comprehensive enough to afford the organization an opportunity for radical process improvement. A truly thorough communications audit can dramatically alter an organization's way of doing business. Typically conducted by an outside consultant, in order to help ensure objectivity (and because company insiders are often more comfortable talking to a consultant who promises anonymity), a communications audit usually involves interviews with people inside and outside the company. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]> publi]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

My Top 5 Internet-Related Crisis Management Tips

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:08:23 -0400

On January 4, 1994, I launched what was then known as Bernstein Communications, which evolved into Bernstein Crisis Management (BCM) about eight years later. My consultancy has been in the fortunate position of being a surfboard riding a wave called "the Internet," as I entered PR already a geek and was able to use that experience to enhance the visibility of BCM and to help my clients be effectively reactive or proactive via online communications. The following are the top 5 Internet-related actions any organization must take, in my opinion, to effectively prevent and/or manage crises: 1. Be Prepared to Manage Crises 24/7 I have had more than a few clients whose culture assumes that work is done during daylight hours on weekdays. The Internet, on the other hand, never sleeps - and neither do the newshounds who feed it. Virtually every media outlet has a website, in addition to its print or broadcast operation, and some media are strictly online operations. The hunger for news is not restricted to their time zones or even to their countries of origin. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis prevention]]> crisis response]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Tools for Internet-Centered Reputation Management

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0400

This article is being written in early June, 2009. Why is that related to the topic? Because if you're reading this any later than six months post-publication, chances are half the information here is badly outdated, perhaps even completely inaccurate. The Internet is the embodiment of rapid change and innovation, and even a self-admitted geek like your author has a hard time keeping up with all of the communications tools available, only some of which are clearly useful for reputation management. The potential roles online tools end up playing aren't always obvious at first. Twitter started strictly as a social networking tool. But then people were using Twitter to communicate from the site of natural disasters. Soon, others were "Tweeting" breaking news of all sorts, while some Twitter users found it was a great way to instantly complain about...anything. Including you. Twitter had evolved, in months, into a way for those who intend you harm to start immediately blasting your reputation. **End Summary** Topics: public relations]]> reputation management]]> crisis management]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Controlling the Context Of An Issue

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Controlling the Context Of An Issue By Jonathan Bernstein A few years ago, an email went out to regular passengers of Virginia Railway Express (VRE), a commuter railroad. The missive addressed an issue near to the heart of any traveler: on-time service, or, in this case, the lack thereof on VRE's Fredericksburg line. Besides VRE, there were two other business entities involved: * CSXT, self-described as the "largest rail network in the eastern United States." * AMTRAK (which, for those outside of North America, is our much-beleaguered national train service, a monopoly). VRE, by taking the lead on communicating to its riders about the delays, quickly and very firmly took control of the context of the issue, ensuring that its passengers understood who was mostly at fault -- CSXT. Is that true? I have no idea, I'm not a railroad analyst. What I do know is that many, if not most of their customers would have concluded that VRE is doing the right thing by them, and that CSXT has to fix the problem. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> public relations]]> crisis communications]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

Seeds of Crises

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

One of the most common sources of almost completely preventable crises is the failure to "deliver as promised." That has been the seed of many crises to which I've had to respond, crises exacerbated by the breakdown between Marketing/PR and Operations functions in many organizations - an invisible line that should not, in my opinion, exist. [Multi-Industry Customer Complaints] The first time many PR pros are aware of a pending crisis is when we're informed that an organization is threatened with one or more lawsuits whose genesis was in statements such as these: * "You said that nothing would be built next to our house!" * "You claimed that if anything went wrong, you'd fix it." * "I didn't know that's what I was agreeing to when I signed your contract!" * "You promised X but now I have Y and I don't like it!" [The Beauty of Hindsight] Where did the problem really start? Most typically, as a result of one of the following causes: * Over-eager, perhaps greedy marketing/sales reps make promises just to make the sale, knowing at a gut level they may not be true. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management]]> crisis communications]]> public relations]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. (BCM), http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com, providing crisis prevention, response, planning and training services. The BCM website has more than 500 articles on crisis management available free to visitors.

The Age of Obama & The Court of Public Opinion: New Opportunities for Trial Lawyers

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Age of Obama could be a particularly lucrative period for trial attorneys in which to pair legal strategy with effective Internet-centered communication to the Court of Public Opinion, communication that marries the best legal strategy with sound public relations/issues management techniques. I am not an attorney. But wise legal counsel have told me that while it violates ethical guidelines for attorneys to influence the jury pool, communicating with the Court of Public Opinion is entirely appropriate for the purposes of: * presenting an accurate picture of your client to the media and other audiences; * informing the public of wrongdoing by specific organizations and/or industries; and, * telling the public how to access legal counsel when they believed their rights have been violated. [The Litigation Environment] Now, as a layman (who happens to work with counsel a lot) let me assess the apparent litigation environment created by the economic downturn and the messaging done by President Obama and members of his administration. 1. Fear. Everyone's scared about money - making it, spending it, having it taken away. Fear often translates into anger, and anger seeks a target. 2. Many Industries Have Damaged Reputations. **End Summary** Topics: crisis management law]]> trial attorneys]]> trial lawyer]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> About the Author: Jonathan Bernstein is the president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., editor of the Crisis Manager newsletter, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay: A Media Training Manual. A former investigative reporter for famed columnist Jack Anderson, he has more than 25 years of specialized crisis management experience and has supported litigation strategy for both plaintiff's bar and defense attorneys. Go to www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com for more information or write to jon