German and American Crisis Coverage

In 2001, the German pharmaceutical company Bayer withdrew an anti-cholesterol drug - Baycol/Lipobay - because the product was suspected to be connected to several deaths. The alleged side-effects of the drug caused a big PR crisis for Bayer that forced the company to respond in order to protect its image. The research of framing in public relations crises is a developing area. While previous studies analyzed how organizations frame crisis events, little research has been done on media framing of crises. This study employs quantitative content analysis to analyze coverage of the Bayer crisis in two major newspapers each from Germany and the United States. Billgen analyzes the frames used by journalists and company officials, but also focuses on the sources journalists cited when covering the crisis. Her results indicate that Bayer's crisis communication was indeed quite successful. It also poses the question whether the newspapers under investigation always adhered to ideal journalistic practices. Her research is particularly interesting for media specialists and journalists, as well as for PR practitioners or anyone involved in strategic communications.