How to deal with negative information

Sometimes you might be able to fully suppress something but, if you fail then things can get pretty bad and end up providing credibility to unsavory characters.

Quoting Mehrdad Amanpour from Who gave us post truth, conspiracy culture and the alt-right?, written in the wake of the most recent US presidental election but looking at a coverup that kept sex crimes in Rotherham unaddressed:

A PR guru once told me that the best way to handle potentially detrimental information is to get your retaliation in first. Report the bad news yourself and come out ready to face your publics. Do it with truth and decorum – bovine rebuttal and personally attacking your opponents might look good to those within your organisation, but to the public they make you look like a loser.

Do that and you’ll have some control over the narrative. You keep some credibility. The worst thing possible is to refuse to discuss the issue, try to deny, cover up or sugar-coat it. The truth will out and your opponents will achieve credibility for exposing it. They will control the narrative. They will be able to embellish and twist it to suit their own purposes.