Image restoration and the management of reputation.

In September 2007, the directors of United Kingdom-based Northern Rock bank had to engage in crisis management following a run on the bank. The rhetoric of the bank’s pre- and post-crisis press releases is analysed in the chapter, and the findings confirm that the DICTION certainty variable increases post-crisis, and the optimism variable decreases post-crisis. According to the date of departure of the incumbent chief executive, the separation of the post-crisis period reveals additional significant changes in rhetoric. Notably, in the post-crisis period, but prior to the departure of the serving chief executive, the analysis reveals a propensity to: (1) intellectualise problems rather than act upon them, (2) seek to reassure but with an inability to speak ex-cathedra, and (3) make greater use of denial-related language whilst avoiding discussion of hardship matters resulting from the crisis