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A press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy.

However, is there a term for bad press release? Something, which an organization would use for communicating something gone wrong?

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    A press release is a press release. You could however qualify it according to circumstance, such as 'emergency press release' or describe it differently, for example: 'customer safety information'
    – Lee Leon
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 8:59
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    In my line of trade this is called a "failure notice".
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 14:41
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    @Reg That's more like what I was looking for. Can you post that as an answer with more details?
    – Anshul Goyal
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 15:32
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    Well, generally speaking it's going to attempt to whitewash the information.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Apr 5, 2018 at 12:04
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    It's called consumer notification. It is a well established legal idea and there are many regulations requiring companies to notify consumers of things I'm sure they would prefer to keep quiet about - such as identity theft, toxic spills, product safety issues, conflicts of interest, etc.
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Aug 4, 2018 at 20:23

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In the industry, this would be referred to as crisis communications

From Wikkipedia:

Crisis communication is a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation

Example:

After our products were found to spontaneously explode, we had to engage in crisis communications.

Furthermore, the communication itself could be referred to as a crisis statement, or simply a statement. Sometimes it can also be called a holding statement.

The company released a crisis statement after their products began exploding.

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I don't think there is any specific word / term that organizations use for this, but possibly something along the lines of public relations failing?

CEO: We've had some backlash from the press?

Employee: Yes, the PR has phrased the release wrong and had an iffy headline.

Think something would go along like this possibly. I can't find any other alternative. Let me know when you find an answer of if this doesn't answer the question.

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    I don’t think this is what mu is asking about. “Bad press release” is not intended to mean “press release of poor quality”, but “press release about a negative incident”, like the BP Oil press releases about the oil spill a few years ago, for instance, or Apple’s press release about Steve Jobs’ death. Not that that changes the essential answer here: there is no specific word for such a thing to my knowledge, either.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 9:02
  • In Politics, people float balloons. Sometimes the balloons float, but when not well received, they sink and are called "lead balloons"
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Dec 3, 2018 at 2:30

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