The IAAF’s ill timed and slap handed decision to announce on the eve of the World Championship 800 metres race that South African runner Caster Semenya would be asked to take a gender test to prove she was a woman created a PR disaster for themselves.

Of course the federation should do everything possible to ensure a level playing field in its sport but how could the publicfail to symapthise with a young person shoved into the spotlight on the mosts sensitive of issues and on the eve of such an important race?

Reading between the lines, it seems that the IAAF assumed that the South African athletics federation would anticipate that questions would be asked about Semenya and therefore pull her out of the World Championships to avoid the sort of media inquest that was, in reality, caused in no small part by the IAAF. They were caught cold when Semenya was not withdrawn and did not have a satisfactory PR and communications strategy in place to deal with the situation.

By making an announcement just hours before the 800 metres final, the federation created a hostile environment in the Olympiastadion as the trackside chitchat focused on the gender of one athlete. This was no longer a race, it was an international talking point, a scandal that the IAAF could have avoided. The fact that Semenya won the race is a tribute to her ability to perform under such unnecessary scrutiny and Jenny Meadows’ superb bronze for Great Britain was almost forgotten amongst the furor.

The IAAF would shuld have worked through a senstive communications strategy with their advisors still achieiving the proper fairness in the sport but without damaging its own reputation in the meantime.

Today I am doing a talk on crisis management to Davies Arnold Cooper, a highly respected legal firm based just off Fleet Street in London. The talk will also be broadcast to Manchester and Madrid simultaneously.

Crisis management is probably needed more now than at any time when companies and individuals are dealing with the media, be it print journalism or broadcast.

Why? Well clearly we are going through difficult times, but I feel that there has been a real change in the media landscape in the last 10 years with a philosophy which seems to suggest it is attack first, ask questions later.

It is my view that anyone in the media spotlight has to go on the front foot. Simply saying no comment leaves a giant void for journalists to fill with their own interpretation of what is going on.

So many clients say to be: It is just not fair, this is my private business, this is not for public consumption, I shouldn’t be a target etc etc

My answer is always there is no point bleating, the media play by their rules and you can either join them or be destroyed by them. Play by their rules, give them a true story or a better story and their appetites will be satiated.

Many high profile celebrities call in media lawyers at every turn and while that is a valid option in extreme cases, it creates huge residual resentment and can often mean the famous are more in the sights of the media big guns than ever before.

Building relationships is essential. If you make friends in the good times, they will look after you in the bad. Many clients only call for help at the moment the media come knocking on the door, while we advocate all-year round relationships whether it be with the business media or national.

Remember you are the best eye witness for your business and you know it better than anyone else and in my experience giving The Press a full explanation, which is balanced and in perspective, often neutralizes a media attack because there are always two sides to a story.

The other common flaw we find is companies so often exclude their communications expert from the top table, so they find themselves trying to defend a corporate reputation without knowing how the story has developed and with a briefing from the chief executive which is inadequate, flimsy and without the bigger picture perspective that allows the department to fight from a position of real knowledge.

Everyone screws up sometimes and too often people in the media firing line try to spin their way out of trouble. The lies and deceit only lead to further analysis, the story runs on and on and often the hole they are digging becomes so big it engulfs the organisation.

Saying sorry is always the best approach, particularly when it is coupled with a well thought out explanation of why the mistake happened. The media feeds on deception so tell them the truth!

Britain’s Got Talent need to sharpen up their act - or are they deliberately allowing people like Susan Boyle to self destruct because it is make headlines around the globe?It seems unreasonable to me to thrust people like her into the limelight and then not offer adequate media management.

Susan needs a calming influence around her, someone who can help the Press, give them some nice positive stories and stop her hitting the self destruct button, as seems to be happening.

The media are fascinated by the show, and by the Scottish singer with the big voice, so they are not simply going to go away. Fill their pages with good, positive stories and their appetites will be satiated. That would be my advice and it would not be hard to do.

How can a famous and talented sportsman be admired but generally unloved by the British public? In the case of Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton, the answer is simple: he lacks an effective public relations team.

Consider the irony: after being caught breaking rules by lying to land a fellow driver in trouble, Lewis Hamilton reflects on the aftermath: “It’s a similar feeling to anyone who goes to jail but feels they should not be behind bars.” So while the man on the street is grafting to make ends meet, Lewis is crying into his designer. It’s PR suicide.

Yes, this is the same Mercedes and the same Hamilton that have been embroiled in the “liar-gate” scandal this season. Surely it’s time to stop searching for the metaphor of ‘imprisonment’ to describe a multi-million pound contract to race cars around the world? That’s certainly what any PR advisor worth their salt would be suggesting.

Let’s not forget that Lewis Hamilton is one of our most talented sportsmen and the public does want to embrace him…it’s just very difficult at the moment. But it needn’t be. His public profile and reputation management just need to be handled differently.

He is having a tough season and has been forced to watch Jenson Button thriving at Brawn GP but there’s no reason why Lewis can’t adopt a more sensible policy with the press. It is something he’s capable of; recently he was gracious and complimentary towards Button, saying: “He has had some tough, tough years and I think I can appreciate even more after this year exactly how he felt. I wish him all the best.” Even here, though, an element of prickly self-pity is evident - strange, I don’t remember Button complaining last season.  Get some advice Lewis before we fall out with a national treasure…

Katie Price is one of the media phenomenas of the 21^st century. It seems everything she touches turns to gold. She connects with a generation of young women and has developed her talents from a glamour model, to book author to TV star.

Who can blame her for fleeing the country when the news broke her marriage was in trouble. She knew she would be surrounded by the media and the difficulty is when you live by the media, you can also die by them if they turn on you. So the ever shrewd Katie has bought herself some time.

The difficulty with leaving a void though is the Press will fill it with whatever they can find… and someone is dripping poison on Miss Price and painting her husband Peter Andre as a saint.

So many clients of our have tried to bury their heads in the sand when trouble comes knocking on the door. My view is if you are a media person, good or bad, that is not going to work long time. You have to address it, become proactive, there will be a few knocks along the way but the positives will win through in the end.

I guess what I am saying is it is time for Katie to come back and face the music… and with her knack for survival I have no doubt she will end up conducting the media orchestra rather than being drowned out by it!

I spend a lot of my professional time advising our clients on reputation management. Taking the time to invest in a media profile during the good times is crucial when it comes to managing bad news whether that is falling share prices for a business leader or bad results on the pitch for a sports personality.

It remains to be seen whether the beleaguered footballer Joey Barton can recover from his recent downward spiral and whether he has enough credit in his own bank of reputation for the media to work with him. Of course it will also depend on his own conduct and whether he can control and perhaps highlight the difficulty with living with such a volatile temperament.

In order for him to recover his reputaion and his employment prospects as a premiership footballer he would be well advised to hire a PR representative with experience in reputaion management and satrt that long road to recovery…