Keith M. Hearit Crisis Communication Management: Applying Theory To Real Cases !!hot!! May 2026

Initially, United CEO Oscar Munoz engaged in provocation and victim-blaming —calling Dao “disruptive and belligerent” and defending the airline’s “established procedures.” When public fury exploded, Munoz issued a second statement that Hearit would call a hollow apology : “I apologize for having to ‘re-accommodate’ these customers.” The euphemism “re-accommodate” became a meme of corporate tone-deafness.

Johnson & Johnson, led by CEO James Burke, enacted a strategy Hearit would categorize as mortification combined with corrective action . They immediately recalled 31 million bottles ($100 million cost), halted advertising, introduced tamper-resistant packaging, and communicated transparently through the media. Initially, United CEO Oscar Munoz engaged in provocation

Inhumane treatment, racism (Dao was Asian American), and corporate greed. Inhumane treatment, racism (Dao was Asian American), and

Hearit, a professor of communication at Western Michigan University and author of Crisis Management by Apology: Corporate Response to Allegations of Wrongdoing , argues that effective crisis management is not merely about controlling information—it is about managing . At its core, every crisis is a narrative battle. An organization is accused of malfeasance, negligence, or hypocrisy. The response, according to Hearit, must be rooted in robust rhetorical theory, primarily the theory of apologia, and then deployed with surgical precision. An organization is accused of malfeasance, negligence, or

Exxon chairman Lawrence Rawl engaged primarily in defeasibility (blaming the ship captain, Joseph Hazelwood, who had been drinking) and denial of intent (“It was an accident”). Rawl refused to apologize publicly for weeks, hid from the media, and minimized the spill’s impact.

The organizations that survive are not necessarily the wealthiest or most powerful. They are the ones that understand the grammar of accusation and apology. They know when to fight (denial, provocation) and when to yield (mortification). They know that a crisis is not a problem to be solved but a narrative to be navigated.