Penn State hired Lanny Davis, LaTorre and Edelman.
Here's a Q&A with Richard Edelman. Do these talking points sound familiar? lol
Q: The Penn State scandal seems an intractable public relations nightmare. What are you doing to try to dissipate the black cloud hanging over "Happy Valley"?
A: I think the most important thing is to talk about the changes the university has made in its governance, and also to talk about the incredible number of positives that are going around on campus.
Q: In June,
former assistant football coach Sandusky was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys. In July, the independent Freeh Report blamed former head coach Joe Paterno, former university President Graham Spanier and others of concealing allegations about Sandusky. How well did the university respond?
A: When the Freeh Report came out, there was a very important moment for the board of trustees in which they accepted responsibility and said that they were going to make change.
Q: You've employed a dedicated website — progress.psu.edu — to update steps the school is taking to address the scandal. How does that benefit Penn State's reputation?
A: I'm really big on this idea of radical transparency. You've got to say, here are our goals, here's how far we've come — put into place a process to fix it and then communicate regularly about your progress. It's not good enough anymore to just say "trust me," because there's a lot of skepticism of all institutions.
Q: How is social media playing into the rehabilitation of Penn State's reputation?
A: We've done a lot to try to get information in easily passable form to Penn State alumni. For instance, university President Rodney Erickson's speech (an update delivered Friday to the National Press Club) was distributed to all of the alumni, so they could comment on it, tweet about it, allude to it on Facebook. We're getting the full effect of peer-to-peer.
Q: You've said that BP's multibillion-dollar advertising campaign in the wake of the Gulf oil spill wouldn't work for Penn State. Why not?
A. I just don't think you can advertise your way out of a crisis. I think you have to earn people's respect and trust. It's what the university will do — it will regain the trust.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...107_1_richard-edelman-digital-age-dan-edelman
