POSITION PAPER I: CRISIS PR

 

Crisis public relations (PR) is the art of managing reputations when things go wrong. Whether it’s a corporate disaster or celebrity scandal, crisis PR steps in to soften the blow, redirect attention, and control the narrative. At its best, crisis PR reassures the public and restores trust. At its worst, it manipulates the truth until the line between fact and spin disappears.

Few television shows capture this world better than Scandal, the political drama created by Shonda Rhimes. At the center of the series is Olivia Pope, a former White House communications director who starts her own firm, Olivia Pope & Associates (OPA). Olivia and her team call themselves “fixers,” and their specialty is crisis management. These workers cover up affairs, hide evidence, rebrand public figures, and keep Washington’s elite in power. Even though the show is fictional, Scandal shows the same PR playbook real-world firms use of anticipation, deflection, control, and containment.

This article includes three examples from the show that demonstrate how Scandal dramatizes crisis PR across personal, political, and institutional crises.

Olivia Pope, protagonist of the show

Amanda Tanner: The Affair Allegation

Amanda Tanner, introduced in Season 1, episode 1 “Sweet Baby”, is a young White House aide who claims she had an affair with President Fitzgerald Grant. For a sitting president, such an allegation is devastating, threatening both his marriage and his presidency. Olivia Pope & Associates is brought in to handle the situation. Rather than confronting the truth, OPA works to discredit Tanner, portraying her as unstable and untrustworthy. While morally questionable, this tactic reflects a recognizable crisis PR strategy: attack the credibility of the accuser to protect the client. The Amanda Tanner case illustrates the PR principle that perception matters more than fact. If enough of the public doubts Tanner’s story, the President’s reputation can survive regardless of if the affair actually happened.

This storyline parallels the Monica Lewinsky scandal of the 1990s. When her relationship with the married President Bill Clinton became public, Lewinsky was scorned in the media while Clinton worked to protect his presidency by denying the affair. This scandal is a real life example of how those in power can mobilize institutions and narratives to preserve themselves, often at the expense of others’ reputations.

Amanda Tanner campaigning for then-Governor, Fitzgerald Grant

Sally Langston: The Murder Cover-Up

By Season 3 episode 9 entitled “YOLO”, the crises escalate with Sally Langston, Vice President of the United States. Sally, a staunchly religious and ambitious politician, kills her husband in a moment of rage after discovering his infidelity. For most people, this would mean immediate criminal charges. For Sally, it becomes a political crisis instead. OPA steps in to bury the truth. Olivia and her team manage leaks and coordinate allies to ensure Sally remains a viable political figure. In this case, crisis PR goes beyond repairing reputation to shield a politician from a tainted reputation.

This fictional case echoes the real-world trial of O.J. Simpson. Simpson, a beloved football star, was accused of murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1994. His trial became less about guilt or innocence and more about the narrative framing of  race issues and celebrity status. Despite overwhelming evidence, the carefully managed defense strategy helped him avoid conviction. Both Sally Langston’s crisis and O.J. Simpson’s trial show how narrative management can shield influential figures from full accountability. 

Sally Langston, Vice-President of the United States

Eli Pope: The Secrecy of B613

If Amanda Tanner represents a personal scandal and Sally Langston a political one, Eli Pope (Olivia’s father) embodies crisis PR at the institutional level. 

Eli is the shadowy head (referred to as Command) of B613, a shadow intelligence organization within the U.S. government. It exists to protect national security and powerful political figures, often using extreme measures such as murder, surveillance, and other morally/legally ambiguous operations. Eli Pope’s identity as Command depends on secrecy. When B613 operations risk exposure, Eli uses fear, intimidation, and scapegoats to garner support in his secret operation. We see this when he blackmails Pete Harris, known on the show as Jake Ballard, to join B613 as an agent. Pope, working as Command, orchestrates assassinations, plants false narratives, and ensures that the public never sees the agency’s crimes. In Season 3 episode 18 after Harrison, one of Olivia’s employees, realized that Eli was responsible for a major assaination, Eli orders one of the many black op agents from B613 to kill Harrison.

This storyline mirrors the reputation management of institutions like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). When covert operations are exposed, like coups from the Cold War and post-9/11 torture programs, official statements often downplay, reframe, or deny involvement to protect the agency’s legitimacy. As with B613, the goal is institutional survival rather than public trust.

In Eli Pope’s world, crisis PR is about controlling information so tightly that the truth never reaches the surface. Eli’s storyline demonstrates the dark extreme of crisis management and safeguarding entire systems of power from scrutiny.

Eli Pope with daughter, Olivia

Conclusion

While Scandal is fictional, its depiction of crisis PR reflects strategies used in real-world personal, political, and institutional crises. Through the stories of Amanda Tanner, Sally Langston, and Eli Pope, the series illustrates that reputation management often prioritizes control and strategy over full transparency.