PCC Presents: Crisis in a Fragmented Media World
Join PCC for this early evening discussion on Wednesday, March 18: "Crisis in a Fragmented Media World".
Gone are the days when a single press release could stabilize a crisis. Today, every crisis unfolds into multiple realities as different audiences react across different platforms and each has their own values, assumptions, cultural contexts, and trusted messengers.
In this fragmented media environment, organizations are navigating a constellation of micro-audiences: journalists, creators, employees, activists, regulators, alumni networks, customers, and communities who often receive the same information through entirely different channels. The result is that a single incident can generate a dozen competing narratives, each capable of going viral on its own.
This panel will explore how crisis communicators and organizational leaders can respond when:
The narrative splinters instantly across TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter, Reddit, local news, and private group chats
Identity, geography, and lived experience shape how stakeholders interpret the same event
Speed collides with accuracy and silence becomes as risky as speaking too soon
Legal, political, and ethical constraints limit what can be said even as demands for transparency rise
Influencers and platform dynamics escalate or reframe a crisis before an organization can react
Trust is personal and reputational risk is unevenly distributed
Drawing on real-world insights from crisis management, political strategy, First Amendment law, and leadership communication, this conversation will unpack how organizations operate when no single narrative exists and when the fragmentation itself becomes the crisis.
Panelists
Payal Patel, Founder & Principal, Audacity Communications (Moderator)
Natalie Bauer Luce, President, Culloton + Bauer Luce
DeRondal Bevly, Founder & Managing Director, RubyRose Strategies
Jason DeSanto, Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Ellie Rutland, Director, Crisis Management and Litigation Communication, APCO
Event Timeline
5:00 PM – Networking & welcome
5:45 PM – Panelist discussion and insights
6:30 PM – Panel discussion concludes
6:30 PM to 7:00 PM – Optional networking and informal conversations