Not that this is the case here, but crisis PR firms would love the publicity from an event like this and many would be willing to take this on pro bono. If you think about it, this is a really easy case for the PR firm that brings huge amounts of publicity, so they're really getting their bang for their buck. The clients in this case are just high school "kids" whose story got taken out of context and exaggerated by the manipulative "media". Any wrong doing can really be swept under the rug with a sincere apology. Who can't relate to the follies of youth, esp when there's powerful media enterprise trying to exploit them?
I'd be really interested to know if the New York Magazine is footing the bill for the PR firm, it already looks quite bad on them and it could make sense for them to do so just to save face.