Crisis communication research focuses on how organizations use communication to manage crises and shows how publics respond to organizational crisis response. Yet, organizations do not always deal with the crisis alone. Sometimes, publics can be active participants in crisis communication when they publicly defend the organization (Brown & Billings, 2013). Drawing on the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) (Coombs, 2015), faith-holders (Luoma-aho, 2015), the concepts of co-creation of meaning (Botan & Taylor, 2004), and framing research (Entman, 1993), this research compared three sets of crisis communication strategies aimed at defending Tesla Motors, a luxury electric car manufacturer. An analysis of messaging on the company’s website, the kinds of organizational crisis communication strategies that were cited in the digital media news articles, and the crisis communication strategies offered by the organization’s supporters, or faith-holders, in the comments left in response to the digital media articles indicates that organizational crisis communication is co-created by different actors across different media, and that faith-holders’ communication plays an important role in this co-creation.

危机传播研究侧重于组织如何使用传播来管理危机，并展示公众如何对组织危机应对做出反应。然而，组织并不总是独自应对危机。有时，当公众公开捍卫组织时，他们可以成为危机沟通的积极参与者（Brown & Billings，2013）。借鉴情境危机传播理论 (SCCT) (Coombs, 2015)、信仰持有者 (Luoma-aho, 2015)、共同创造意义的概念 (Botan & Taylor, 2004) 和框架研究 (Entman, 1993) )，这项研究比较了三套旨在捍卫豪华电动汽车制造商特斯拉汽车的危机沟通策略。分析公司网站上的消息传递，