While bloggers churn over programming issues on Target.com’s Web site, the Globe and Mail—that’s right, a traditional analog newspaper—covers the story of a genuine crisis, one that poses a genuine threat to Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). The bank apparently began faxing confidential customer information to a wrong phone number, that of a West Virginian scrap yard operator. The recipient of the faxes, Wade Peer, alerted the bank to its mistake, but the faxes just kept on coming. Now the bank is suing Peer for leaking confidential customer information.

...crisis management consultants say the legal moves against Mr. Peer indicate the bank’s response to the fax crisis now lies in the hands of the lawyers, rather than image and reputation experts.

The article features input from a number of PR and crisis experts and provides an inside look at the various angles of a true PR crisis.