Work

More Than a “Bad Apple”: Expanding Care Considerations for Strategic Communication in a Collective Crisis

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: The Larry Nassar case is one of many abuse stories within and beyond sports. Although conventional strategies of image repair such as identifying one “bad apple” are considered effective within an ethics of justice perspective, we argue that crisis responses must adopt an ethics of care when physical and emotional harm has occurred. Using a case study approach, we qualitatively analyzed organizational responses from Michigan State University (MSU), U.S.A. Gymnastics (USAG), and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), as well as media coverage of Nassar’s sentencing hearing, through Fraustino and Kennedy’s (2018) Applied Model of Care Considerations (AMCC) framework. We theorize how the media landscape creates a space of resistance for survivors that facilitates ethics of care in a collective crisis.

Source: The Journal of Public Interest Communications

DOI: 10.32473/jpic.v5.i1.p24

Authors: Stephanie Madden, Rebecca A. Alt

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Lenoir–Rhyne University

Language: English

Topic: Public Relations and Crisis Communication

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Michigan State University