Crisis Communication for Social Good

Lucinda Austin, LaShonda Eaddy (Grady PhD Alum), Xuerong Lu (Grady PhD Alum), and Yan Jin. (Forthcoming). “Crisis Communication for Social Good.” In Public Relations for Public Health and Social Change (Ed., B. McKeever). Routledge. 

Abstract: This chapter introduces crisis communication and prominent theories, discusses crisis work as applied to social good, and highlights trends and future directions. First, the chapter includes an overview of crisis communication, a definition of crisis, and review of major crisis communication theories, including Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model. Secondly, the chapter expands upon crisis as applied to public health and social change, specifically discussing disaster communication, health crises, and nonprofit crises with an overview of and case example for each. Lastly, the chapter concludes with emerging trends and future directions in crisis communication in the digital world, including misinformation, media affordances, and media convergence.