Faced with a crisis, what can a business say? Crisis communication literature
tends to focars on what to do before and after a crisis and on the kinds of crises
corporations face. Less attention is given to the options available within mes
sages about a crisis. The theory of image restoration provides a useful key to
composing such messages. This article applies the theory to one case study in
image repair discourse: USAir's response to media coverage of the crash of
one of its aircraft in Pittsburgh in 1994. Introducing such case studies in the
classroom helps students to understand the basic tenets of persausion in the
highly charged context of repairing a corporate reputation after an attack.
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