A Public Relations miscue?

R. R. Donnelly is a printing company out of Chicago, Ill. They are widely considered the largest commercial printing company in the world. They are of course a large business and they are to always do the best they can to turn a profit for their shareholders. The company was founded in 1864 and has over 50,000 employees worldwide.
In northwest Iowa, there is a town called Spencer. The R.R. Donnelly plant there employees 160 people. These people rely on the R.R. Donnelly as their source of income as any employee would.
On Tuesday morning, the employees of the company started hearing rumors that their plant was being shut down and that there was a meeting scheduled for 3:00 that afternoon. Nothing else was being said to the employees.
That afternoon, there was a meeting and the employees were told that they were losing their job. The regional economic development coordinator has been trying to reach the corporate office but no one there will return her calls.
One worker told the reporter that the employees were not allowed to talk to the media or they may lose their severance benefits. Another visitor to the we site posted a comment that the plant may not wait until March 1st to be closed, that it could happen at any time.
To read the entire story, follow this link.
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2009/01/14/news_business/local/6a051418c632a9658625753e00142598.txt
The worst part about this entire story is that the company has not responded to anyone about what is going on. The plant manager will not talk to the media, the corporate office will not return calls not only to the media but to the economic development coordinator of the region as well.
I am sure that there is a reason why this plant had to be closed. In these hard times, there are signs of economic turmoil everywhere and there are many companies in trouble. Why is it though that R.R. Donnelly does not feel they have to give an explanation to the employees and the community?
This company plays a large role in the community. This story has given them a bad name. I had never heard of R.R. Donnelly before the other day but since then, I have not had a good opinion of the company.
Had some type of statement been made to the community, through a press release or a briefing, the community would have more information as to why the company had to close the plant and might not be made to look like the villain in this story.