Articles

The Public Apology: Sorry, not sorry – well, maybe, but it depends

By Caroline Conkle

FORT WORTH – Organizations should stop apologizing every time they are criticized online. That’s the argument Josh Bentley, Ph.D., made last week at a September 3 professional development program from the Greater Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Bentley, a public relations scholar at Texas Christian University, spoke about his new book, “Devaluing Public Apologies in the Age of Social Media.” With a full house in TCU’s Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitor Center ballroom, Bentley described how public apologies are viewed as less sincere and less meaningful due to the frequency with which organizations apologize. He said cancel culture and polarization play a role in the disregard for most apologies today.

Audience member Kendal Clark, the Web Manager at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at TCU, shared some of her takeaways.

“He talked a lot about apologies and how they are phasing out because people aren’t feeling that satisfaction anymore from receiving those apologies, and I think that has a lot to do also with cancel culture phasing out,” she said. “Cancel culture was such a widespread thing, and it was something that you were hearing everywhere, with YouTubers apologizing for things they were getting caught on, and now people are just not entertained by it anymore.”

Reilly Ternan, a TCU alumna and Digital Communication Specialist at Cook Children’s Health Care System, shared her excitement for the event and pride for her former communication law professor.

“I was a student of Professor Bentley in 2020 during COVID,” Ternan said. “So, I was really excited to hear him speak. We have been looking forward to this for weeks ever since we heard it was booked.”

The Bob Schieffer College of Communication sponsored the event with appearances from both Dean Kristie Bunton and Associate Dean Julie O’Neil.