By Jim Haggerty, PR Consulting Group

Google News launched a new service to provide companies and individuals mentioned in news articles compiled on the Google News search engine the opportunity to post comments or rebuttals in response. The comments appear right under the original article in the search results on Google News.

As you know, Google News is one of the main ways to gather the latest news from media sources around the world on a company, issue, crisis or legal matter. In many crisis situations, it is often not the article itself but the appearance of that article on search engines like Google that stoke the flames of rumor, inaccuracy and public fervor.

If this new service continues, the implications are considerable:

  • If you find a quote you have given in a news story to be out-of-context, you can submit a rebuttal, explain your comment in further detail, or offer clarification;
  • If there are facts and arguments that did not appear in the original story, you can expand on what was written to give readers the full picture of the issue, crisis or case (particularly in legal matters, there are usually a host of complex facts and arguments -- many of which never make it into the final story);
  • If an article is flat-out wrong, you have another way to make sure the truth reaches the public (right now you are usually limited to a correction buried somewhere in the newspaper, a letter to the editor, or a lawsuit).

For examples of this new Google service, please visit http://news.google.com/.

While such a response mechanism shouldn't take the place of aggressive and proactive management of communication during crises, litigation or other adversarial public disputes, clients and their attorneys should be aware of the fact that this does add another tool to the arsenal -- one that can help influence public perceptions and media coverage as a matter unfolds.

Jim Haggerty is a senior counselor to Hyde Park Communications and president of the PR Consulting Group.