If you are a business who gets in a crisis and wants to get good coverage out to the reporters, having already established a cushion of goodwill would really help you out.

Del Webb Corporation, the people who built all the Sun City retirement communities, were at the wrong end of an attorney general's investigation related to the pollution of Lake Powell by one of their former subsidiaries that ran a boat dock there. Horrible news. They ended up paying the highest environmental fine ever in the state of Arizona at that time. Part of the fact that the story didn't last and hurt them beyond that couple of days, I hope, was because I did a good job for them. But a big part of the reason why it didn't last is because they already had an existing cushion of goodwill. They had a very good reputation as corporate do-gooders, as good neighbors, as responsible developers. And so the press was willing to listen to them and gave their words some credibility. I've seen the exact converse happen where an organization did no proactive PR, and the first time the press covers them is in a bad news situation. They suffered far more than they would have if they'd had the cushion of goodwill already established.

You can find a lot more great information like this in How to Keep the Media Wolves at Bay.