If you have been breathlessly waiting to hear from Rupert Murdoch after FedExing him your latest brochure, bad news: he picked Edelman. This seems like a good opportunity to point out the value of giving PR a seat at the table in order to head off trouble, or at least engaging a PR firm earlier than 11 days after becoming the biggest story in the world, but those lectures generally are lost on the people who need them most. Sigh.
Murdoch, ‘Annoyed by Negative Headlines,’ Retains Edelman
Denver Public Relations Blog 
Yes. Murdoch waited an eternity to select a PR firm to help with the crisis. Although the delay is bad for his organization, it reflects his ego and perspective that he can call the shots, rather than listen to those who’ve been injured by their unethical practices.
I am slowly devising something called the “embattled indicator.” This would correlate the demise/ousting of a public figure with how many times the word embattled was used in the media next to the person’s name (as in Rupert Murdoch, the embattled media tycoon). Clearly Anthony Weiner had so many such media references, he was crushed under the weight of negativity. But subjectively, Murdoch does not seem to be in that category. He is categorized as being “in the hot seat.” We’ll see what happens.
My point for PR practitioners is that if you can steer the media away from using the embattled word, in many cases your client (though guilty as sin) might be spared the ultimate punishment.
Does anyone think this line of thinking has merit?