To minimize devastation and maximize opportunities provided during a corporate crisis, public relations professionals should collaborate with lawyers on crisis response strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine coverage of the Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/ Firestone, Inc. tire recall from May 2000 through May 2001 to determine whether there was a difference between the strategies used by each company and whether Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. used more traditional public relations than traditional legal strategies during each crisis stage.A content analysis was conducted of articles covering the crisis from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post containing sentences attributed to each company's spokespeople. The search yielded 234 usable articles with 2,192 sentences.Coders identified strategies as traditional public relations, traditional legal, mixed, diversionary, or other. A chi-square was used to test the hypotheses.The first hypothesis, which said there would be no significant difference between strategies used by each company, was rejected. The second and third hypotheses, which said Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. used significantly more traditional public relations than traditional legal strategies during each time period, were accepted. / Department of Journalism

This study examines the coverage of serial killers David Berkowitz, Richard Ramirez, and Dennis Lynn Rader in the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post. The 30-day period following the arrest of each killer was studied using a content analysis to identify whether the coverage focused on crime prevention, as suggested by the public health model. The study also sought to identify whether the themes of coverage changed over time. The content analysis indicated that there was a change in the themes of coverage over time, and that more attention was paid to the history of the case than to crime prevention. / Department of Journalism