Keeping Cool on the Hot Seat: Dealing Effectively with the Media in Times of Crisis

This is the 5th edition of this book. Since initially published in 2001, it has been used by numerous organizations of all kinds to help them know what to do and say in the opening moments of a crisis. Those who have received it from their companies after having gone through the workshop on the same topic have found it to be a ready reference. It is easy to grab when something bad happens that thrusts them into the public eye in a potentially negative way. For those who have not been through the workshop, it can provide them with the basic information they need to make a positive initial impression with the news media and the public and then follow through to a conclusion that allows them to save their corporate reputation. Since new crises arise for some organization or person every day, there is never a lack of examples to be studied. This newest edition adds material about the pervasiveness of social media and the need to use it as a tool in crisis response. It also provides comments on news stories of 2008-2011 like the implosion of Tiger Woods, the BP Gulf Oil Spill, the Tylenol recalls, the Japanese earthquake/tsunami and nuclear facility crisis, and the loss of messaging clarity in the killing of Osama bin Laden. Numerous colleges and universities have selected it as a text in public relations and communications classes both for undergraduate courses (e.g. Appalachian State University, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Kansas State University) and graduate courses (Syracuse University, Judson University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst) and in certificate programs for emergency responders (Norwich University).