Abstract
This study examines the communication strategies employed by MeritCare’s public relations staff during the fen–phen case. The ethic of significant choice was the primary lens for the study. The study revealed that MeritCare’s public relations staff members believed they did, in fact, follow the ethic of significant choice. Specifically, they perceived that the biases held by staff helped maintain the public’s safety as the primary issue during the fen–phen events. They also believed that their communication strategies allowed them to avoid ambiguity and emotionalized language. Finally, the staff members felt that teaming with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota enabled them to influence the marketplace of ideas by capitalizing on the credible standing of Mayo Clinic.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barney, R.D. and J. Black: 1994, Ethics and Professional Persuasive Communications. Public Relations Review 20, 233–248.
Coombs, W. T.: 1993, Philosophical Underpinnings: Ramifications of a Pluralist Paradigm. Public Relations Review 19, 111–119.
Holdsworth, G. M. C. et al.: 1999, Controlled Management of Public Relations Following a Public Health Incident. Journal of Public Health Medicine 21, 251–254.
Leeper, K.: 1996, Public Relations Ethics and Communitarianism: A Preliminary Investigation. Public Relations Review 22, 163–179.
Leeper, R. V.: 1996, Moral Objectivity, Jurgen Habermas’s Discourse Ethics, and Public Relations. Public Relations Review 22, 133–150.
Marsh, C. W. Jr.: 2003, Antecedents of Two-Way Symmetry in Classical Greek Rhetoric: The Rhetoric of Isocrates. Public Relations Review 29, 351–367.
Mumby, D. K.: 1988, Communication and Power in organizations: Discourse, Ideology, and Domination. (Ablex Publishing Corporation, Norwood, NJ).
Mundy, A.: 2001, Dispensing with the Truth (St. Martin’s Press, New York).
Nilsen, T. R.: 1974, Ethics of Speech Communication (2nd ed). (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., New York).
Seeger, M. W.: 1997, Ethics and Organizational Communication. (Hampton Press, Inc., Cresskill, NJ).
Stipp, D.: 1995, New Weapons in the War on Fat. Fortune, Retrieved 17 February 2003, from Proquest database Web site: http://www.proquest.umi.com
Sugarman, C.: 1996, Feeling Fat? Diet Pills are Back and Everyone Has Something to Say About Them. The Washington Post, Retrieved 17 February 2003 from Proquest database Web site: http://www.proquest.umi.com
Ulmer, R. R. and Sellnow, T. L.: 1997, Strategic Ambiguity and the Ethic of Significant Choice in the Tobacco Industry’s Crisis Communication. Communication Studies 48, 215–233.
Willard, C. A.: 1996, Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy. (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).
Williams, S.L. and Sellnow, T.L.: 1998, Chilling Effect and Significant Choice: A Case Study of the National Cancer Institute and the Screening Mammography Guideline Controversy. Free Speech Yearbook 36, 118–133.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Renae A. Streifel (M.A., North Dakota State University) is a public relations specialist for the MeritCare Hospital group in Fargo, North Dakota. She studied the MeritCare case for her Master’s thesis.
Bethany L. Beebe (M.A., Purdue University) studies crisis communication from an organizational perspective.
Shari R. Veil (Ph.D., North Dakota State University) is an assistant professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma. She studies crisis communication from a public relations perspective.
Timothy L. Sellnow (Ph.D., Wayne State University) is professor of communication, North Dakota State University. Along with an extensive publication record, he has worked with several US government grants which provide some of the context for his study of crisis communication from an organizational perspective.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Streifel, R.A., Beebe, B.L., Veil, S.R. et al. Significant Choice and Crisis Decision Making: MeritCare’s Public Communication in the Fen–Phen Case. J Bus Ethics 69, 389–397 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9097-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9097-2