On Sunday night, Sandmann released a three-page statement in which Nick defended his actions and offered his version of events. Describing himself as a Christian and practicing Catholic, he wrote that the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, had approached him, not the other way around. Phillips supported that in separate interviews later in the weekend.Let's consider that efforts were immediately begun after the hoax story broke to get the boys expelled from their school, which the Diocese of Covington implicitly endorsed; publish the boys' and families' names in hopes of getting the parents fired from their jobs and the boys denied college admission; and threats of violence were issued, with scruffy demonstrators converging on the school and the diocesan offices. Both had to be closed in fear on the following Tuesday.Asked about its role, RunSwitch released a statement saying that the firm "has been retained by the Sandmann family to offer professional counsel with what has become a national media story. We are working with the family to ensure an accurate recounting of events which occurred this past weekend.”
RunSwitch partners Steve Bryant and Gary Gerdemann said that Sandmann family asked people they knew over the weekend about getting help with handling the media.
"They reached out to our firm, and we responded," said Bryant, adding that the business specializes in crisis management "all over the country."
This is why crisis management is needed in this day and age, and it appears that RunSwitch is a capable firm -- I assume they were responsible for getting Nick Sandmann's written account of the episode into the press and his interview on the Today show Wednesday morning. Nick comes off as mature, sensible, and well-spoken. It sounds as if RunSwitch recognized this and saw him as a good public spokesman.
It's worth noting that the Sandmanns are said to be middle class, and public relations crisis management firms don't come cheap. The cost of a public relations firm to counteract hoax defamatory news would be a damage the family is entitled to recover in legal action. I assume this will be part of a prudent and intelligent overall strategy.
It does appear that legal action on behalf of the families is under way.
"Anyone who doesn’t correct and retract” libelous stories related to an encounter near the Lincoln Memorial would face a lawsuit, Los Angeles-based trial lawyer Robert Barnes told PJMedia. Corrections indicating that “a more complex picture has emerged” may not be enough, he said.Barnes confirmed to The Epoch Times that he represents the families, who “don’t want to, but feel it necessary” to pursue the libel charges.
Barnes expressed confidence in the strength of his case. It’s easier for private citizens to raise libel charges against a person who publishes false claims about them. Private citizens only need to prove negligence, such as failure to fact check, on the part of the publisher. . . . Barnes said he will likely bring the case “as a class claim to preserve the maximum amount of anonymity” for his clients.
I still wouldn't advise Nick Sandmann to apply to Harvard (which accepted David Hogg), but I would guess Hillsdale College would be happy to have a mature, sensible, and well-spoken student like him.
On the other hand, the fallout from the episode has also developed into a crisis for the school and the Diocese of Covington. I would guess there are unhappy parents in the school, which caved with the diocese in threatening expulsion for the boys, but the fumbling over the weekend has hurt the school's reputation and reduces the chances of any student in the college admissions process. I would say that a new principal is a potential good option.
A much larger number of unhappy Catholics will want accountability for Bp Foys. So far, I don't have the impression that the school and the diocese are acting as sensibly as the Sandmann family. In fact, I don't have the impression that either recognizes the crisis it now faces.
