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Case Study 3
Like wildfire a 6 second video clip was sent from mobile phone to mobile phone reaching the
majority of the school’s student population. The clip was also sent to some parents and within the
hour had made it to the desk of the local newspaper editor. The clip – taken by a student on his
mobile phone ‐ showed a distressingly violent fight on the school grounds. In the clip one boy was
seen punching and kicking another boy on the ground while around the boys was a large crowd of
students yelling “Kick him!” and “Let the **** have it”.
The editor scanned out 8 images and printed them on the front page of the paper with the head
line “HORROR AT HIGH SCHOOL”. This news item created a storm of ‘letters to the editor’ most of
which condemned of the school and of the ‘lax’ standards of teachers.
Within 2 days, 8 families took their children from the school and enrolled them elsewhere. The
principal of the school came under intense criticism for his handling of the matter, and was
threatened with removal from his post.
What would you do to deal with this public relations issue?
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