Amnesty withdraws award - Admitting an error always best policy

Big organisations, governments, conglomerates, corporations, institutions, government departments, trade unions, professional bodies, or religious orders — certainly the managerial wings of religions — are usually reluctant to admit error. Acknowledging a mistake, no matter how consequential, is avoided so the organisation’s reputation might be, in the longer term when we’ve forgotten whatever scandal was in play, preserved.

This preference to ride out a short, sharp storm has created to what might be described as the commando wing of public relations — crisis management consultants. Plutocrat after plutocrat, Hollywood moguls, captains of industry, politicians, and, less frequently than might be imagined, superstar sportsmen or women turn to these pilot boats of public opinion to navigate scandal, to deflect opprobrium. Or just to survive. Churchmen defending the indefensible also use spin doctors to try to put a tolerable gloss on awful situations.