Oprah Winfrey's handling of accusations of child abuse at her new school for girls in South Africa is a textbook example of effective crisis management. Oprah accepted responsibility, showed concern for the victims, flew to Africa to investigate the situation and took firm steps towards change. She cooperated with local authorities and with the media. She recognized the need to thoroughly investigate the charges and hired an American firm to do so. She used every aspect of her media empire - TV show, magazine, websites - to address the situation.

Most important, Oprah realized that crisis management means having to say you're sorry and she apologized to the victims and their families as well as to her many fans.

But even Oprah, who commands the respect and affection of millions, as well as a considerable fortune, did not walk away unscathed. Nor did the children at the school. Oprah described this situation as "devastating" for herself and the girls she sought to help.

Even with this effective handling, this crisis is not over. There will be more publicity when the investigations are completed and if charges are filed. The Bad Thing never completely goes away.

Because ASPR handles a number of hospitality accounts, a recent item in The Publicity Hound got our attention. Housekeepers at several Atlanta hotels were caught on camera by a local TV station, rinsing out guest bathroom glasses without properly washing and sanitizing them. One lady carefully polished the glass with Windex! Like most mismanaged crises, this one assumed a life of its own in countless blogs and on YouTube where it will live long and prosper.

This is bad enough, but the response of the hotels' management proved again our premise that there is no public relations crisis that can't be made worse by panicked managers, unwise in the ways of media relations.

One hotel manager refused to comment because the topic was "too controversial." Hello! There is nothing controversial here because there is no question as to who screwed up. These hotels were caught in a major violation of health and safety standards and the only thing to do is to deal with the matter quickly, aggressively and truthfully.

Rule # 1 of crisis management: Only people in old black and white B movies say "No Comment"! Avoiding the subject will NOT make the issue go away. The Publicity Hound, a weekly blog full of marketing and PR tips, gathered suggestions as to how the situation could have been handled. Several PR counselors, including ASPR, weighed in on how to handle the situation.

ASPR recommends calling your corporate communications department for professional help in dealing with the problem. Then admit to the problem, say it is not in accordance with company policies and procedures and commit to re-training the housekeeping staff to ensure compliance.

The Publicity Hound thought that the best solution came from Marketing Specialist Jennifer Moreau. She suggested that the hotel apologize for the safety violation, then ask the TV station to become involved in reporting on the change in housekeeping procedures.

Allow the station to be present at the staff meeting. "For instance, invite them to the initial meeting with staff when this video is shown so they obtain footage of staff reaction to the hidden camera video and the discussion that takes place after," she wrote. "Then, have the media do a second hidden video test after a month or 2 months when the changes were implemented to ensure that they actually were.

Working with the media as a partner instead of an enemy will actually help both parties. They get a better, more in-depth story, the hotel improves their process, and both receive PR coverage. Plus, the hotel's credibility is perceived much higher by admitting the problem right away and dealing with it. This, in turn would reduce potential negative sales effects and perhaps could actually have a positive effect on sales. *

Anne says: We agree that cooperating with the media is the best way to restore the hotels' credibility. However, this solution has too many minefields in it. Asking the station to film the initial staff meeting or to once again use hidden cameras, could backfire on several levels.

The housekeepers are often immigrants and their status may be questionable. They are already upset at being filmed and fearful of more TV exposure. Their English may not be very good and their reactions, as well as those of the hotel management, can be unpredictable.

There are privacy issues here as well - further use of hidden cameras could generate protests from hotel unions, civil rights groups and immigrant advocates.

Better to admit fault, promise reform, act quickly to solve the problem and then invite the TV station to film openly, showing how the staff was retrained. But don't do any filming without first obtaining legal advice, consulting with Human Resources and ensuring that the housekeepers are on board with the idea.

* Reprinted from the Publicity Hound's e-zine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com.

Sometimes editors can get a bit cranky or even downright rude. But before you dash off an intemperate e-mail or phone the offending media outlet, stop and think. Complaining about an editor can just make a bad situation worse, as Washington media powers found out last month.

The problem started when former mayor Marion Barry's press officer sent a release to Tim Page, the Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic of the Washington Post. Since Barry was not appearing at the Kennedy Center, this counts as Mistake #1 in this scenario. Send your releases to the appropriate editor. Mr. Page, who was clearly having a bad day, dashed off an ill-considered response on company e-mail saying that he did not wish to to receive any news about a "crack addict" who is now serving a term on the City Council.

The press officer should have swallowed hard and sucked it up. Instead he phoned Page, uttered obscenities and then complained to the Post management, demanding that Page be fired. For what? Bad manners? The aide was also at fault here. The Post was pretty craven about this, in my opinion, as they did apologize. The story went around the globe, raising questions about free speech, free press, standing by your employees, etc.

It also raised awareness that Marion Barry, who was caught on video smoking crack while he was mayor of the nation's capital, and served a six-month jail term for the offense, was alive and well and again holding public office. This, from Barry's point of view, is all best forgotten, but now new doubts are raised about his fitness and on the motives of the electorate that continues to return him to office. This is not great pr - not for the paper, not for the reporter and not for Marion Barry.

It all could have been avoided if his press officer had shown some foresight and discipline and if the Post had tried to settle the matter privately.

A similar event occurred in New Jersey when Governor Jon Corzine 's staff complained about an illustration accompanying an article in the Asbury Park Press. The digitally mastered illustration showed the governor as a shady street peddler in an article, "Hocking the Highways," that criticized Corzine's plan to borrow money against future toll revenues. The gov and his aides demanded an apology from the Press which has not been forthcoming.
Instead, the paper reprinted the photo so that readers who had missed it could see what the fuss was about.

Again, this drew attention to the failure of some of Corzine's initiatives and also made him seem petty and overly sensitive to criticism. Worse, the original article gained new life, since most of the state's papers picked it up as did the New York Times and countless websites and blogs.

Because of this overreaction by the Corzine staff, a relatively minor issue assumed new life and morphed into a totally different and far more damaging problem.

It's also instructive to note that, today, once your name in print, it will go forth and multiply then live forever on the Internet. Print media will post it on their own website for all the world to see, comment upon and forward to hundreds of people. It can be archived, googled, yahooed, blogged and eventually posted on who knows how many other media sites. That's Great PR! if it's a positive story - one placement can generate huge returns. But the Internet is a double edged sword and we forget that at our peril.

This does not mean that you can't ever complain about media coverage. The media is not infallible and there are times when you can and should, respectfully make a complaint or ask for a correction.