Penn State Riot

The Penn State Scandal: Will You Be Prepared When it Happens to You?

At the end of his life, Penn State coach Joe Paterno of Happy Valley built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor" but died under the cloud of failure with shame.

The man known as "JoePa" won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL. But in the middle of his 46th season, none of Paterno's many victories or school contributions amounted to much when in a desperate PR-motivated decision, university trustees fired him by phone as he was getting ready for bed.

As news of Paterno's firing spread, a riot erupted on the Penn State campus and the focus of the scandal became more about what the legendary coach didn't do rather than Jerry Sandusky's alleged molestation of 10 boys over a 15-year span.

Legendary status no longer protects people from media-hyped public prosecution. That's why it is more important than ever for attorneys with clients in the limelight to understand the psychology behind press witch-hunts in order to better protect themselves and those they represent.

Paterno, and at first the top echlon of the University claimed to have been fooled by Sandusky. But outrage built quickly when the state's top cop said the coach hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation to go to the authorities when a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, told Paterno he saw Sandusky with a young boy in the showers of the football complex in 2002.

At a preliminary hearing for the school officials, McQueary testified that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. McQueary described Paterno as shocked and saddened and said the coach told him he'd "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter.

Paterno waited a day before alerting school officials but never went to the police.

"You know, (McQueary) didn't want to get specific, " Paterno said. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."

When the scandal erupted in November, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.

"This is a tragedy, " he said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

The Fallout of Fraud

Many of the Penn State public relations initial missteps were fueled by the way officials first begrudgingly acknowledged the scandal, which broke on Nov. 4 with word of Sandusky's indictment.

The next day, officials added perjury and failure-to-report charges against athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz.

Penn State President Spanier issued a statement devoting two sentences to the scandal's core: one calling Sandusky's charges "troubling, " and the other saying, "Protecting children requires the utmost vigilance." He then used the next two paragraphs to defend Curley and Schultz, who have been charged with failure to report and perjury.

The emphasis of the statement was put on defending Curley and Schultz, the alleged victims were an inconvenient afterthought. This misplaced emphasis resulted in an immediate shift in public perception from a benefit-of-the-doubt stance to a 'they're trying to justify their actions' effort. The knee-jerk firing of those directly involved in the alleged incident only appeared as a last ditch effort to cover-up behavior.

When a college's reputation is damaged, obviously it can adversely affect student recruitment, alumni donations and even federal funding. Penn State is particularly vulnerable as so much if its success depends on its previously stellar reputation. In 2011, private donations totaled $235 million--among the highest of all U.S. public universities, Moody's said in a statement.

Penn State raked in $72.7 million in revenue from football last season, ranking fifth out of all college programs in the country, according to CNNMoney. In addition, the school's athletic department, took home another $24.1 million in revenue not designated to a specific team or sport -- a sum that came mostly from merchandise sales and sponsorships.

It is still unclear the full financial impact of the scandal on the University but it is conservatively estimated looming lawsuits alone will cost Penn State perhaps in the neighborhood of $70-$100 million in settlement fees. Due to the poor communications strategy, private donations are sure to suffer as is student recruitment and respect for the football program and university leadership.

By comparison, according to research by two economics professors it is estimated Tiger Wood's fall from grace cost his corporate sponsors $12 billion in lost stock value.

Scandal is Contagious

In the initial aftermath of the Sandusky scandal, Syracuse Basketball coach Bernie Fine emerged as a made-for-TV predator complete with four alleged victims claiming the coach molested them as children.

The media seized upon the story, leading to Fine's suspension, then firing.

To date, two of the four accusers have admitted to lying to investigators, one recanted his story and another victim's statute of limitations precluded prosecution.

Bernie Fine is an excellent example of the bleed-over scandals tend to have for entertainment and sports attorneys. In a hyped-media environment, every media outlet fights for a fresh angle on a popular story and this can provide an audience for disgruntled individuals looking for attention. Competitors as well can use negative attention as an opportunity to raise allegations designed to hurt individuals and entities directly or even indirectly affected.

Protecting the Client From Themselves

Identifying potential problems ahead of a crisis is always the safest way to protect the reputation of an individual or entity. The first step in doing this is to perform a vulnerability audit. This introspection enables attorneys the ability to anticipate crises and to construct a crisis plan that will enable counsel to negate or, at the very least, lessen the impact of any future crisis.

Clients should collect data from people in key positions and interview key employees from the boardroom to the loading dock. Employees must be assured that their answers will be kept strictly confidential. These interviews will be even more helpful if a third party conducts them.

Information learned from these conferences should include potentially harmful trends, inconsistent answers to different questions asked of each subject, and background information suspected by employees regarding the current crisis.

A consensus opinion regarding the probability of certain crises often arises out of this process, also potential weaknesses should be examined that could cause or contribute to the crisis. These vulnerabilities might include unstable employees, insufficient communication in the chain of command if a crisis does occur and the development of actual crisis scenarios.

Had Penn State officials performed a vulnerability audit ahead of the Sandusky indictment and been proactive about what they found, the entire scandal may have been averted. Sadly the first reaction most leaders have when faced with a scandal is to bury their heads in the sand until they have to face the crisis already too big to ignore, or efficiently correct.

Attorneys should remember the ethical considerations when advising client what to say and not to say. The best rule of thumb is to have the attorney speak to what has been publicly filed and the clients speak to their heart and how they feel about the incident. Interviews should always express sympathy for the alleged victim and talk proactively about what is being done to get to the bottom of what happened.

Reputation Protection

The best defense is always a good offense. You can't ace if you don't serve. Sports analogies fit beautifully in any article about crisis communications because they speak to the very nature of human psychology.

The earliest start in crisis management is the safest start. It is important to immediately assemble all individuals involved in the leadership and assign one spokesperson. The spokesperson should be armed with talking points and trained how to answer any and all questions from the press. All members of the communications team must be in agreement as to these points. An entity is usually always believed when their statements are consistent and credible.

It is also vitally important in the time of social media to contain cocktail talk. Maintain an open dialogue with those involved with the company or entity. Make sure employees know what to say when their friends and neighbors ask about the crisis. Nothing breeds mistrust more than silence.

Damage Control

Just because the crisis is no longer front-page news, doesn't mean its over. Scandals, like sicknesses, relapse if not treated. In Penn State's case it means finally taking control of the communications strategy and announcing proactive measures the university is taking to make sure nothing like the alleged molestation incidents ever happens again.

At its first public meeting since the child sex-abuse scandal broke, in January, Penn State's board of trustees adopted sweeping changes to improve safety on campus.

Throughout the meeting and at a news conference afterward, board members pledged to look at and investigate everything, including whether the board should agree to allow itself to be open to further scrutiny under the Right to Know Act.

The task force, headed by former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, is still investigating, but the board is already instituting a proactive plan that includes providing training to employees, starting with security and athletic department workers, to be sure they comply with federal law concerning the reporting of crime and the prompt reporting of abuse allegations. The plan also recommends better practices in dealing with minors on campus, including providing clear guidelines to staff and enhancing background checks of adults who deal with children.

The university also pledged to hire a chief compliance and ethics officer.

Even before Paterno's death the travesty of Penn State was already veering away from the countless acts of sexual abuse Sandusky allegedly committed against minors, not to mention all the indications of a cover-up by the top echelon of the university, including Paterno.

With Paterno's demise, the media is embracing a new direction questioning whether Paterno had been treated fairly by the trustees when he was fired. The chorus grew louder, forcing board of trustee members to again go on the defensive, which is the weakest effort of a PR campaign, and talk to The New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer to make their case they had done the right thing.

Had Penn State's PR department adopted a proactive communications strategy focused on the morally correct purpose the minute the scandal erupted, perhaps Joe Paterno's legacy would have been better remembered as "Success with Honor" instead in the shadow of scandal. Don't let this travesty happen to you or your client.

About The Author: Miranda Sevcik is a former television journalist and current principal of Media Masters, a Houston- based litigation communications and legal PR firm that caters exclusively to lawyers and legal professionals. Miranda worked with defense attorney Ed Chernoff as the media liaison and spokesperson for the defense of Dr. Conrad Murray. http://www.mediamastersonline.net

Miranda Sevcik is a former television journalist and current principal of Media Masters, a Houston- based litigation communications and legal PR firm that caters exclusively to lawyers and legal professionals. Miranda worked with defense attorney Ed Chernoff as the media liaison and spokesperson for the defense of Dr. Conrad Murray. http://www.mediamastersonline.net

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