Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
Early in 2020, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for bankruptcy to establish a trust for victims of sexual assault while in the organization. To announce the trust and offer a sincere apology for the trauma BSA’s National Chair Jim Turley wrote and published an open letter to the victims. This letter provides useful examples of crisis communication and provides a basis for a fantasy theme analysis. In this paper, we examine the letter's rhetorical situation, with emphasis on the constraints of encouraging sexual assault victims to come forward and reputation management in the message. Further, we examine this letter as it fits into the growing fantasy type of apology letters to victims of sexual assault in organizations that were negligible. We are also able to examine the letter’s alignment to lessons in crisis communication. The goal of this paper is to provide an in-depth rhetorical analysis of the message crafted by Turley to better understand risk and crisis communication when external factors threaten a sudden organizational crisis.
Keywords: Boy Scouts, Apology, Sexual Assault, Risk & Crisis, Threat, Victim, Fantasy Theme, Narrative Theory
Personal Statement
This paper was written as a graduate-level component to the Risk & Crisis Communication course offered by the Department of Communication Studies at the university. We were given free rein to analyze an example of risk and crisis communication. While organizational crises are somewhat of a vast topic to explore, we settled on the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) open letter to victims of sexual assault while members of the organization. This project serves as an important examination of public apology communication and righting wrongdoings in a very pervasive community. This project helps us understand how to take steps toward healing, and how to address widespread suffering which is an unfortunate reality of our world today. Working on this project led me to a deeper interest in public apologies and notions of public identity. This has developed into my thesis topic on cancel culture prevailing over social media. In contributing to communication research, this paper serves as recognition for several best practices of risk and crisis communication. It is clear that the BSA exemplifies several best practices by owning up to their mistakes and offering a path to self-efficacy in managing the crisis they created. Not only does this project show us how important it is to admit our faults and make an effort to make amends, it also shows how there is still a lot of learning and growing to do to complete healing. I hope this project leaves an impression on those who watch my presentation and it’s power effects can be seen.
Open Letter to the Victims: An Analysis of Risk and Crisis Communication
Early in 2020, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for bankruptcy to establish a trust for victims of sexual assault while in the organization. To announce the trust and offer a sincere apology for the trauma BSA’s National Chair Jim Turley wrote and published an open letter to the victims. This letter provides useful examples of crisis communication and provides a basis for a fantasy theme analysis. In this paper, we examine the letter's rhetorical situation, with emphasis on the constraints of encouraging sexual assault victims to come forward and reputation management in the message. Further, we examine this letter as it fits into the growing fantasy type of apology letters to victims of sexual assault in organizations that were negligible. We are also able to examine the letter’s alignment to lessons in crisis communication. The goal of this paper is to provide an in-depth rhetorical analysis of the message crafted by Turley to better understand risk and crisis communication when external factors threaten a sudden organizational crisis.
Keywords: Boy Scouts, Apology, Sexual Assault, Risk & Crisis, Threat, Victim, Fantasy Theme, Narrative Theory