CONSEQUENCES OF BAD PUBLICITY - ONE EXAMPLE

When Houston's leading newspaper investigated local for-profit psychia tric hospitals and ran a series of stories that ranged from unflatteri ng to shocking, any hospital administrator might reasonably have expec ted dramatic effects on public perceptions of the specific hospitals n amed, and also perhaps on other psychiatric hospitals in the metropoli tan area. In fact, a survey that tracks consumer awareness and impress ions of all Houston-area hospitals found no such outcome. These result s may be counterintuitive, but they are easily reconcilable with commu nications theory.