Penn state, six years after jerry sandusky scandal. Currently the football accounts are being updated infrequently by penn state athletics staff only with innocuous press release type content and the fan engagement is minimal as a result. Faithful struggle with scandal at penn state, where. Gary sinderson is a longtime reporter for cox media groups wjac johnstownaltoona, pa. Penn state spends millions on public relations, hires new.
Penn state scandal timeline pittsburgh postgazette. Sandusky, penn states former defensive football coach under hall of fame head coach joe paterno, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012 and is serving a 30. Senior lecturer of public relations in penn states college of communications department steve manuel did a lecture to pr students and the media. Penn states postsandusky public relations repair gets a. Tim curley and gary schultz face up to five years in prison for the their roles in the scandal that brought down joe paterno. The crisis enveloping penn state has taken the world by storm. A former prosecutor who led the case against former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky is losing his law license for a year. Suddenly, the penn state scandal came along, and corbett could lobby the penn state board of trustees to get rid of both spanier and paterno. Public relations wont fix penn states crisis prsay. Why the penn state scandal stayed secret tv news check. Assignment 1 wk 4 penn statesecond mile scandal second. It would be a humungous understatement to say the penn state scandal was tragic and that swift and severe action was inevitable and necessary from a public relations standpoint, it was also frustrating. What penn state should have learned from the sandusky.
Investigators working on a report about penn states handling of the jerry sandusky scandal uncovered dozens of emails in which top university administrators discuss how to. In august 2012, the head of the worlds largest public relations firm, edelman, made a pitch to penn state universitys board of trustees to take on one of the biggest p. Read cnn s fast facts about the penn state scandal. Penn state universitys response to a scandal seems to be no response at all. This crisis needed to be addressed with concise and suitable crisis communications by penn states communications team. Back in 2000 a janitor of penn state witnessed sandusky receiving oral sex from a young boy, the janitor reported what he saw to coworkers and his. Department of advertisingpublic relations bellisario. As a public relations major with a strong interest in sport management and administration, i was fascinated by the way penn state handled the unprecedented public relations disaster that resulted from allegations of a university coverup of ongoing child sexual. Penn state universitys horrific childabuse scandal and their initial tonedeaf response created public outrage and shattered the universitys credibility. The penn state football facebook page, currently with nearly 350,000 likes, targeted students, recruits to the football program, alumni, and penn state football fans in the community. Had the allegations of sexual impropriety been reported to university relations vice president, bill mahon, public relations might have prevented this from ever becoming a crisis, and even may have burnished penn states reputation for doing the right thing in the process. Penn state faculty members reject a vote of noconfidence in the universitys trustees, a symbolic measure that had sought to chastise the board for its handling of the child sex abuse scandal.
Penn state scandal the chronicle of higher education. On august 15, 2012, penn states regional accreditation was put on warning status due to the sandusky scandal. A child sex abuse scandal rocked state college and took down the president of penn state university, the athletic director, a senior vice president and a football coach with more than 400. The new portrait emerging of the penn state football coach accused of abusing a young boys. Spaniers lawsuit claims the school violated an agreement made when he was pushed out of the top job days after sandusky was charged by making public comments that were critical of him and not living up to promises regarding office. Needless to say, he has been extremely busy this month covering the sexabuse scandal that has shaken the university and become a continuing national story. In 2012, penn states former assistant football coach jerry sandusky was found guilty on 45 charges related to the 10 children he sexually assaulted over several decades. The foundation also provided support for their families. Former penn state officials plead guilty for roles in. And suddenly corbett starts showing up at penn state board of trustees meetings, where the governor was a. The reputation of this iconic university and its football program was changed forever by this horrific event, which involved years of administrative coverups of the sexual assault of children by an assistant football coach.
Penn state officials plead guilty in sexabuse coverup. New tapes of sandusky interview he gave before the scandal broke. Interestingly, burns says that penn state football social media, even today, is not back to business as usual like it was before the scandal broke. Public relations and marketing penn state university. Public relations society of america was on it with this timely post. Scandal at penn state, in sage business cases, sage publications ltd. A guide and timeline details behind the sexual abuse charges against former penn state assistant jerry sandusky. Thats not just because of the painful irony that the coverup was for the purposes of public relations and it backfired exponentially, but also because it was all completely unnecessary.
The second mile is a nonprofit organization that was established to help young. The intent of the foundation was to assist youth with promoting selfconfidence, also to. Students gain experience through classroom instruction. As the news of the scandal unraveled, penn state officials and representatives failed to react in a timely and appropriate manner, leaving students, faculty, alumni and the rest of the country in the dark. The second mile is a nonprofit organization that was established to help young boys with disadvantage families and home environments. This site contains links to the libraries news, events, and exhibits pages, libraries publications, and downloadable resources for. The sexual abuse scandal that has shaken penn state has a host of characters and a history that spans decades. Of the scandal when it first surfaced, professor manuel stated in a. Court orders release of documents in case over penn state. Listed below are the audited financial statements for the pennsylvania state university fiscal year ended june 30. The twoway former vice president gary schultz and former athletic director tim. Penn state pr majors get a crash course in crisis, thanks.
As in most crises, the universitys response is being heavily dissected and debated among the commentariat we asked several respected college public relations professionals those who manage oncampus crises in their daily work. Second mile scandal 1 penn state and second mile scandal strayer university public relations may 2, 2014 second mile 2 gerald jerry sandusky founded the second mile in 1977. Crisis strikes penn state on november 5, 2011 the investigation into prosecutors accusations of jerry sandusky of making inappropriate sexual advances on eight boys from 1994 to 2009 becomes public chappell, 2011, p. Assignemnt 2 wk 8 penn state and second mile scandal. A crisis, at its core, completely disrupts an organization coombs, 2012, which was certainly true for penn state.
Football coach joe paterno and other penn state officials didnt do enough to try to stop suspected sexual abuse of children at the hands of a former assistant football coach, the pennsylvania. After analyzing the situation, i have developed 10 things penn state should have learned from the scandal from a public relations. Pr lessons from penn state stern strategy insights. Penn state fails a public relations test leading off. Penn states reputation, image soiled by jerry sandusky. This study examined the penn state sex abuse scandal by applying traditional crisis communication strategies, usually invoked by an organization, to the online communication of the universitys active stakeholders, sports fans. When joe paterno was fired, the scandal became an allout public relations nightmare for penn state, whose happy valley mantra became riddled with sex abuse charges, allegations of a university. The penn state athletic director, 57, denies being told of sexual misconduct by sandusky in 2002 but is accused of covering up allegations tied to. Today, penn states pr and communications professors, including steve manuel, senior lecturer of public relations, are using the universitys pr missteps in its handling of this tragic situation as an opportunity to teach students what not to do in crisis communications. Penn state police and the pennsylvania department of public welfare investigate an incident in which. Today, penn state s pr and communications professors, including steve manuel, senior lecturer of public relations, are using the universitys pr missteps in its handling of this tragic situation as an opportunity to teach students what not to do in crisis communications.
Penn states legal and public relations costs reach. Like the church, penn state sports seemed to operate under a veil of impunity, with a publicrelations strategy so complex that the university went to greatand expensivelengths to protect. Penn state scandal crisis communications case study. Penn state pr majors get a crash course in crisis, thanks to scandal a leader in publiccommunications education, university failed at pr 101 by rupal parekh.
The public relations and marketing office provides promotional, publication, editorial, design, select signage, and exhibit services to the university libraries. Latest update on shocking allegations 0 of 21 former penn state coach jerry sandusky has been charged with sex. This thesis paper is an analysis of the crisis communication response to the 2011 pennsylvania state university child sex abuse scandal. Media public relations penn state scandal social media facebook today is national voter registration day. Second mile 2 penn state and second mile scandal gerald jerry sandusky founded the second mile in 1977. Penn state sexual abuse scandal in 60 seconds 2016 cnn. Last week penn state lecturer steve manuel veered from the syllabus for his communications class and spent the next several sessions dissecting the. Penn state abuse scandal costs approach a quarterbillion. July 12 former fbi director louis freeh releases findings from penn states internal investigation. In each area, students can combine classroom instruction with handson work through partnerships or reallife. Students who major in advertisingpublic relations at penn state have a wealth of opportunities thanks to a degree that allows them to build on many of the same core skills before focusing on the advertising or public relations track. Six years later, penn state remains torn over the sandusky scandal photo by patrick smithgetty images as school leaders try to move on, joe paterno loyalists, including many university trustees.
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