BlogOn: Damage Control

Gil Schwartz, EVP of Communications, CBS Television spoke one-on-one with Lisa Poulson, Managing Director, Burson-Marsteller. Negative publicity can spread through the blogging world like wildfire. Ignoring it can lead to disaster, but how exactly do you respond to such criticism? What steps should you take to forestall or limit damage? And how do you handle a PR crisis that originates in and is propogated through the blogosphere?With the blogosphere being part of what is negative, how do companies handle what is being said out there by bloggers? As CBS was attacked by many bloggers, one blogger had written erroneously that Schwartz was going to be let go - while he was actually being promoted - and when he did contact the blog to let them know it was wrong, they said it happens every day and that's how it goes. It's like playing whack-a-mole forever. But, it's a part of the media now, and part of what companies need to do to ensure that there is not a crisis out there that is slowly starting, because there is no such thing as "it's just a blog" anymore. There is not a huge difference between bloggers and mainstream media. The lines have blurred, where blogs cover the same topics as media. CBS PR will treat bloggers like press - answering questions from bloggers. During the promo for the new shows, it will look at blogs as well as mainstream media that DO cover television to invite to the previews.