Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Journalism (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Journalism

Advisor/Mentor

Bobbie Foster

Committee Member

Sisi Hu

Second Committee Member

Anne Velliquette

Keywords

Celebrity; Crisis communications; Public relations; Twitter

Abstract

Celebrity crises are more prominent in today’s social-media-fueled world than ever before. Public relations teams are hired to handle these instances on behalf of the celebrity, but no one can control the discourse that ensues on social media. The end goal of these teams is to restore trust and reputation with stakeholders and fans. Although there have been many studies on crisis communications, there are few studies thus far that have examined the strategy as well as the discourse of such timely crises. The public figures included in this paper are Ashton Kutcher, Lizzo, Luke Combs, Mila Kunis, and Taylor Swift due to their public crises at the end of 2023. This study reveals the strategies modern public relations practitioners are using by categorizing the celebrity crisis communications with Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) strategies. Additionally, using critical discourse analysis (CDA) and its three-levels of investigation, this paper dives into the societal context of the Twitter discourse in response to the celebrity crisis communications. This study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What strategies are used in current celebrity crisis communications? (2) What discourses are found in Twitter users’ responses to each of the celebrity crisis communications? (3) How do these discourses reflect messages conveyed in the strategies of celebrity crisis communications? It concludes with professional recommendations based on the findings as well as a prompt for future research.

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