administration adviser. he is co-author of the book masters of disaster, the ten comman commandments of damage control. how does this compare to the clinton administration or is every perceived scandal not created equally? every perceived scandal is certainly not created equally. i know how washington, d.c. works. there was a great froth for many days this week with people trying to compare this to what had happened with previous administrations. this is not anywhere near on par or a comparable magnitude to the reagan administration, the clinton administration, the bush administration faced in their second terms. that being said this is also an issue that is coming about in a different time period where the media ecology, there is a scandal industrial complex out
they re sending a clear message to our sources, don t embarrass the administration or we re coming after you. so it gives us all a pause. and i m starting to wonder if maybe it s about time for the president to think, do i need a clean house here? do i need to bring in some people who know how to manage a crisis? who have maybe at least read masters of disaster, the book, who as you know ran the clinton scandals. they learned a long time ago that the first thing you do in a crisis is gather all the facts, especially the ones that are negative and embarrassing to you. and the second thing is release them right away, especially the ones that are negative to you. you don t dribble things out, don t mislead, don t distort, and then when it finally gets out, you don t whine about republicans, your critics when you re the reason that you re wasn t that unbelievable yesterday. it was stunning. it was stunning. the president of the united states with one scandal after another falling a
day. we have had that e-mail nightmare thinking did i just hit reply all and should i send an e-mail out i m moving to bora bora? a corporation dealing with disaster and politician caught with the wrong person, how do you deal with it and save your reputation? if you re in trouble the first call should be to the guy in the guest spot, chris lahane, master of disaster. he s co-authored a book by that name, masters of disaster: the ten commandments of disaamage control. how are you? good, good. when you say, not if but when you get in trouble, you give us ten commandments to follow. when s the most important thing to do when you get in trouble? when you find yourself in that hole, the first thing you should not do is bring the backhoe in and keep digging.
but akio toyoda came armed with his study. they hired a company called exponent to test the vehicles. but exponent has an interesting past. so our ted rowlands came to find out is exponent just a hired gun? reporter: in fact, in an initial report given to congress this month, couldn t find anything wrong with toyota vehicles. that report was compiled by a company called exponent. hired by guess who? toyota. we ve asked people to evaluate exponent s analysis, and they said it was not a very good analysis. reporter: exponent is an engineering firm with the nickname masters of disaster. when a big-name company gets in trouble, these are the guys they call to defend them. and it reads like a who s who of companies with major product or
toyota has been replacing gas pedals on millions of vehicles, but what of the decision to replace pedals and not electronics is actually based on dollar-driven science? that was the suspicion in congress today and now ted rowlands is keeping them honest. reporter: toyota is apologizing on capitol hill but it is not admitting to anything specific. in fact, an initial report given to congress this month couldn t find anything wrong with toyota vehicles. that report was compiled by a company called exponent, hired by, guess who, toyota. we have asked people to evaluate exponent s analysis and they said it was not a very good analysis. reporter: exponent is an engineering firm with the nickname masters of disaster. when a big corporation gets in trouble, these are the guys they call to help defend them. and those big corporations read like a who s who of companies with major product or pr problems over the past decades, like exxon. when the valdez ran aground, exponent concluded