Crisis Alert Service Launched by Aronson and Bernstein

Provides Free Warning of Potential or Escalating Crisis Conditions

(PRWEB) January 26, 2005 -- Cyberspace - Two nationally acclaimed crisis management public relations professionals, Bob Aronson, in Minnesota's twin cities and Jonathan Bernstein, in Los Angeles, have joined forces to launch a free Crisis Alert service that warns subscribers of trends, news stories and intelligence which they believe increase the propensity for certain types of crises to occur. Alerts will be by email, one to four times monthly, as conditions warrant.

Aronson, Founder of The Aronson Partnership (www.aronsonpartnership.com), is best known for his expertise in healthcare and is a sought after public speaker on several other communication issues. Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management LLC (www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com), has a national crisis management practice and publishes an international email newsletter, Crisis Manager, read in 75 countries.

"The idea for Crisis Alert evolved from an email Bob sent me noting that a nationally prominent State Attorney General was challenging the tax status of not-for-profit healthcare providers," said Bernstein. "It occurred to me that a lot of my newsletter readers would want to know about this development and be alert to the possibility that similar actions could be filed by their Attorney General or even carried over to challenges of other not-for profits." In subsequent brainstorming, Aronson and Bernstein concluded that they frequently spotted similar developments impacting a wide range of organizations, for-profit, not-for-profit and governmental.

"Jonathan and I spend a great deal of time not only in the trenches of crisis response, but helping clients stay out of trouble in the first place," said Aronson. "We know what to look for in the news and from our many other sources of information. And we have a combined 54 years of experience in crisis management that we can bring to bear on this project."

As with Bernstein's email newsletter, Crisis Alert will be written for "those who are crisis managers, whether they want to be or not." While current subscribers to the newsletter and the two founders' personal networks will be the first invited to subscribe, anyone can add themselves to the double opt-in, secured list hosted by Lyris. The subscription list will never be shared with others. However, unlike the roughly 2,000-word newsletter, Crisis Alerts are expected to range from 200-400 words, maximum, with links to relevant information as needed. Subscriber feedback will play a major role in determining the need for changes in content or format.

"We're doing this because it's needed, because it's gratifying to help our readers prevent crises, and of course because it helps our own visibility," says Bernstein. "However," notes Aronson, "We have agreed that this isn't going to be a self-promotional venture. It is, in our opinion, a leading-edge way to use the speed of the Internet for crisis prevention the same way some folks use it to foment and exacerbate crises."

To subscribe to Crisis Alert, send blank email to join-crisisalert@laser.sparklist.com. No subject or message is required -- you will receive a message asking you to confirm your subscription in order to prevent someone else from adding you to the list without permission.

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