Emergencies become crises and must be addressed immediately. Companies should establish an early warning system to distinguish the emergencies from the problems and address each appropriately. Companies must establish credibility quickly during a crisis, and ignoring or denying the problem will not achieve this. A company should be responsive to the media, have consistent message points, and must strive to control public perception. This is not an easy job, as the public is very skeptical.
Companies are often guilty until proven innocent.