In these cases and many others, we are talking about companies with immense experience and excellent reputations. They are managed well and would have crisis and risk management plans. Yet in each case, the consequences exceeded anything they planned for.
Read MoreWe accept media stories at face value until they are challenged by someone "in the know" or who we have a relationship with. Once challenged, we tend to favour the new version of the story because we know that "media world" is a mythical place, not the community in which we live. Short term stories rarely do the damage we believe, and are usually made ineffective by a quick, straightforward response. The real impact is on those who are the focus of the story, not the broader community.
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