Media Relations

Since the Tylenol Crisis of 1982, Johnson & Johnson has been a leading role model for all companies and organizations ever handling crises. They are considered by public relations experts to be one of the best crisis managers in the history of public relations. To continue this affective managing of crises, Johnson & Johnson has a "news" section on their main web page dedicated to their consumers, doctors, patients, etc.

Considering J&J 's products are mainly to help the health and well-bring of it's customers, managing their reputation is very important. They need to make sure they have complete trust from their customers and clients. To do this they maintain a very honest and open relationship with their press by having an organized news section on their web page. It breaks down their news into three sub-categories; Corporate News, Product and Operating Company News and Financial News. They post all of their press releases from over the last two years, as well as a personal section for media professionals to have a more direct line of communication to their media relations department.

I read a few of the articles that fell under the Product and Operating Company News Section. It seems that whoever writes their press releases have a good background in writing. I would guess that the author of most of these work in their media relations department. I also went on  New York Times to see how different issues were portrayed. A recent recall dilemma that Johnson & Johnson dealt with was the recall of tens of thousands of artificial hips. Though some believe that they didn't respond quick enough due to complaints that were coming four years earlier, their statements showed them taking responsibility. One that came from a New York Times article was: “We are committed to assisting patients and health care providers by providing information through multiple channels and paying for the costs of doctor visits, tests and procedures associated with the recall". Through the few articles I read about this recall, none of the journalist seemed to place Johnson & Johnson in a negative light. This caused me to believe that they hold solid relationships with the media and they handle their media relations activities very proactively.