✅ Why your crisis communication plan won’t save you
Communication leaders must stop reacting to risk and help management reshape it according to Rod Cartwright’s latest report.
The 2025 edition of Reputation, Risk, and Resilience distils insights from 11 major risk reports, from Edelman to the WEF, into ten themes, ten questions, and one central provocation: public relations must reimagine its role as a strategic partner in risk leadership.
The report is split across two documents. The first section provides an overview of each of the reports that Cartwright reviewed. The second section asks “what next” and sets out a plan and recommendations.
The diagnosis is brutal, but the opportunity for leadership in public relations and strategic communications is very real.
We’re not facing unfamiliar risks. We’re facing more intense, interconnected, and systemic versions of the same forces that have been building for years.
Geopolitics, climate breakdown, cyber threats, polarisation, disinformation, and disengaged workforces are no longer future concerns. They are the modern operating environment.
Cartwright argues that public relations must move from a reactive function to a strategic capability embedded in risk leadership and management.
Communications teams must be at the centre of building organisational resilience to manage risk. Those who take up that role will lead. Those who don’t will be left to manage the fallout.
If you’re interested in more, a full analysis of Reputation, Risk, and Resilience: 2025 Edition, along with links to the two parts of the report, is available on my blog.
Have a good week ahead.
Industry
♀️ LEADING WOMEN: The PRCA’s Leading Women campaign proposes evidence-backed solutions to gender barriers in public relations leadership and management, including pay transparency, flexible working and women-majority leadership teams. These interventions provide employers with a practical blueprint to bridge the gap between entry-level and senior positions. Source: PRCA.
📰 INDUSTRY PIONEER Tim Traverse-Healy OBE, founding member of the Institute of Public Relations and industry pioneer, has died aged 102. The original terms of reference for the foundation of the CIPR from 1948, like Tim’s last paper, Credo written in 2013, are as relevant today as when they were originally written. His life is a call to action for practitioners to professionalise. Source: CIPR.
📰 AGE MATTERS: A new Substack newsletter, “The Age of PR” by Jenny Manchester, tackles ageism in public relations, examining systemic biases that sideline experienced practitioners. The publication combines real stories, research data, and practical insights to help communications practitioners build more inclusive workplaces. Source: The Age of PR.
Media
🗞 AUDIENCE BATTLES: The Guardian rose to second place among UK commercial news brands in April 2025, with 21.9 million monthly visitors. It narrowly overtook The Independent and The Sun, while Mail Online slipped to fifth. The top four were separated by fewer than one million visits, reflecting a competitive digital news landscape. Source: Press Gazette.
🎯 NICHE STRATEGY: Reach has launched eleven new Substack newsletters for superfans of topics including Formula 1 and Liverpool FC. City-focused titles for Newcastle, Bristol and Belfast are also planned. These personality-driven newsletters aim to build loyal audiences and complement specialist sites like All Out Fighting and All Out Gaming. Source: Hold The Front Page.
⚠️ MISINFORMATION CRISIS: A Guardian investigation found more than half of top TikTok mental health videos contain misinformation. Dubious advice and misused therapy language risk pathologising normal emotions. Experts warn these “quick fixes” can harm viewers, while MPs call for stronger regulation of short-form content. Source: `The Guardian.
Management
📉 REPUTATION RISKS: The Axios Harris Poll reports that companies taking sides in culture wars have experienced significant reputation declines. Tesla and SpaceX now rank in the bottom 10% for trust. Meanwhile, firms that remained committed to diversity and inclusion saw their scores improve, demonstrating that consistent values can protect a reputation. Source: Axios.
🎭 DIVERSITY DISGUISE: UK companies are rebranding diversity and inclusion as “wellbeing”, “belonging” or “culture” to avoid political backlash. While US firms drop the word “diversity” entirely, British organisations are under pressure from employees to maintain commitments, often continuing the work under softer terminology. Source: The Guardian.
🛡️ ALCOHOL FIGHT BACK: Alcohol companies are mounting a public relations campaign against the WHO’s “no safe level” drinking message. Executives admit they are “losing the airwaves war.” The industry faces a reputation challenge as it navigates rising health pressure while avoiding comparisons to tobacco ahead of key UN and US policy decisions. Source: The Financial Times.
Best and bad practice
📱 ALGORITHMIC PROPAGANDA: Modern platforms have digitised Edward Bernays' propaganda techniques, using algorithms to influence public opinion through emotional triggers like outrage or fear. Influence now operates invisibly via recommendation engines that prioritise engagement over truth. Source: Wadds Inc.
⚫ DARK TACTICS: Authorities in Málaga have weaponised public relations to silence activists using smear campaigns, legal threats and disinformation. This highlights how communication strategies can entrench power imbalances. Practitioners must audit their work to ensure it upholds democratic participation and serves the public interest, rather than suppressing dissent. Source: Wadds Inc.
Sarah Waddington CBE is Interim CEO of the PRCA and a director of Wadds Inc. Limited.
Thanks to Julian Christopher, Rachel Foster, Catherine Frankpitt, Ben Lowndes, Craig McGill, Tanya Le Roux, Jenny Manchester, Alan Morrison, Mark Stouse, Alex Waddington, Sarah Waddington, and everyone who shares and debates the stories in the newsletter via our Facebook and LinkedIn communities.
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