In line with Schwarz’s (2008) suggestion of extending Situational CrisisCommunication Theory (SCCT) with Kelley’s covariation principle, the presentresearch aims to further examine the applicability of integrating a covariation-basedapproach to crisis responsibility assessment into the SCCT framework. Specifically, acontent analysis was conducted to verify the basic assumptions for applying acovariation-based approach in crisis communication context. A follow-upexperimental study was exercised to test the effect of consensus information – themissing variable in SCCT – on crisis responsibility attributions. The researchsuggested that a covariation-based approach of crisis responsiblilty assessment couldbe legitimately applied in the SCCT framework, and that crisis responsibilityassessment in the SCCT framework could be improved, at least in some particularsituations, by more consistently and systematically taking into account the threeinformation dimensions in covariation principle as integrated information patternsrather than separately considering the effect of one single information dimensionalone.Keywords:

This thesis aims to examine the media company Nent Group's crisis commication and identify which crisis communication strategies have been used in order to repair the organization's damaged image, and to analyze whether the strategies have changed over time. The thesis's purpose will be achieved by answering the three following research questions: What crisis communication strategies can be distinguished in Nent Group's crisis communication? How has Nent Group's crisis communication changed since the start of the crisis in the spring of 2021? What reponsibility does Nent Group have for the crisis that has occurred? The theoretical framework of the dissertation consists of two theories of crisis communication, Situational Crisis Communication Theory by Timothy L. Coombs and Image Repait Theory by William L. Benoit. The theories form a base for further analysis of Nent Group's crisis communication, where thematic textanalysis is applied to code and thematize various documents containing crisis communication by Nent Group. The documents consist of pressreleases, statements in the media, inerviews, and comments from Nent Group on the social media-platform Instagram.  The results of the study show that Nent Groupäs most used crisis communication strategy is "to correct action", which means that the organization takes various measures to deal with the crisis at hand. The results also show that the crisis communication has changed during the crisis, in the beginning it is mainly the strategy "to correct action" together with "avoidance of responsibility" where other actors' responsibility for the crisis is pointed out by Nent Group. Towards the end of the crisis, strategies are used to remind stakeholders of Paradise Hotel's popular program cincept. Finally, the results show that Nent Group can be ascribed a moderate crisis responsinility because they did not cause the crisis.