Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference [Hardcover]

Esq. Richard S. Levick (Author), Larry Smith (Author), Jack Trout (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2007

STOP THE PRESSES: THE CRISIS AND LITIGATION PR DESK REFERENCE is a communications survival manual for the Internet Age. With over 50,000 copies in print, the second edition of this acclaimed book is a must-read for C-Suites, legal counsel, and communications specialists. Updated text includes fresh material covering the online media that are now so decisive for brand and reputation management, along with extensive discussion of recent industry crises, from product recalls to data security breaches. STOP THE PRESSES defines the best communications practices for corporations, countries, and high-profile individuals facing trials by fire in the Court of Public Opinion. Here are the dos and don'ts of crisis planning and media relations-print and broadcast as well as blogs and other online media-with in-depth analyses of cross-border issues, SEC investigations, law firm crises, product liability, antitrust, health care, and more. STOP THE PRESSES now includes an insightful preface by legendary brand guru Jack Trout.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard S. Levick, Esq. is President and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications, protecting brands and reputations during the highest-stakes global crises and litigation. The firm has won numerous communications awards, including Crisis Firm of the Year. A regular commentator on television, Mr. Levick was named to the PRNEWS Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement. Larry Smith is Senior Vice President of Levick Strategic Communications and a respected marketing and crisis management counselor serving corporations, professional firms, and high-profile individuals. His other books include the highly acclaimed INSIDE/OUTSIDE: HOW BUSINESSES BUY LEGAL SERVICES(American Lawyer Media, 2001).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 233 pages
• Publisher: Watershed Press; 2nd edition (December 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975998528
• ISBN-13: 978-0975998526
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advanced Strategies for Crisis Communication, May 3, 2008

By 

Dennis Dean "Media Relations Counsel" (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference (Hardcover)

Don't buy this book for your PR department. Buy it for your attorneys.

Levick bridges the gap between the need for an organization to speak publicly during a crisis and its legal department's desire to keep the corporate yap locked tight. An attorney himself, Levick understands perception trumps fact, and that at crisis time the real battle won't happen in a court of law; it's already happening in the court of public opinion.

Filled with insights and strategies for short-circuiting a media assault from newspapers still in print to online bloggers, "Stop the Presses" is a must-read for those who think they know crisis communications.

Levick also explains the critical need for advance preparation, on-going media awareness and outside legal and communications counsel in a crisis, three steps lacking in too many organizations.

A clear winner.

Dennis Dean
The Dean Group

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Be prepared" is better than "be sorry.", April 19, 2008

By 

John Mariotti "John" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference (Hardcover)

It's rare that a book can serve as an "insurance policy," but Stop The Presses comes as close as any I have read. Nobody relishes the idea of a crisis situation befalling them or their business--but crises do strike--and by definition, they are unexpected. If a company's management has read, or even browsed those neat little gray "So Don't Forget" boxes at the end of each chapter of Stop The Presses, it will have taken the first step on the road to preparedness.

Ricard Levick and Larry Smith make this sometimes frightening topic eminently readable, and fill the pages with useful, do's, don't and "don't forgets." Their experience is evident all through the book. No book is a substitute for the right advisers and advice, but this one covers many of the crises and legal/regulatory troubles with just enough explanation to start readers on the path to the right kind of actions.

As I stated at the start: it isn't quite an insurance policy, but for $30, it might just save your reputation or your company. And that's probably the best $30 you could spend. Buy it; read it; and hope you never need it. You'll sleep better at night.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Side of the Web, March 3, 2008

By 

Brad Shorr "Brad Shorr" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference (Hardcover)

The authors deliver a comprehensive "how-to" guide on reputation and crisis management. They are definitely advocates who write in terms of us vs. them. In their world, (usually) well-meaning corporations are beset on all sides by adversaries who will use any technique, fair or foul, to undermine their business. This book, the Second Edition, includes more discussion of issues related to Web media, advocacy blogs in particular. The authors seem particularly concerned about the growing and often diabolical influence of bloggers, who are indeed reaching larger and more motivated audiences just as print media readership continues its steep decline. This passage sums up the book's attitude toward bloggers -

"Because the E.coli crisis was not the first such event, and nor will it be the last, the industry was facing adversaries even before the revelations of contamination were made. Special interest groups and self-appointed watchdogs were lying in wait. Their lair is the blogosphere." (p 113)

The book is important reading for three audiences.

1. Corporate leaders who must know all the angles when it comes to defending their company when crisis strikes. Levick and Smith are clearly experienced. They've seen things spin out of control every which way, and their many case studies and examples teach valuable lessons.

2. Corporate attorneys involved in crisis litigation. This is way outside my area of expertise, but the book contains fairly detailed advice geared specifically to attorneys.

3. New media thought leaders. "Stop the Presses" stands in stark contrast to books such as The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly, Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, and even The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual. These books, which sing the praises of full disclosure and wide open communication, tend to under emphasize the legal risks borne by corporations in the face of an organized opposition with sometimes sinister motivations. While overly open communication could backfire badly for a large corporation, strict adherence to this book's perspective could lead to an equally devastating bunker mentality. The best approach to managing information on the Web lies somewhere in between.

A couple side notes ... The book is quite readable on the whole, although the style bounces around between conversational and formal. I found the many, many "sidebar" digressions - some of which were several pages long - to be highly distracting, as they were inserted in the middle of the rather complex narrative. When will publishers stop trying to turn printed material into Web pages? It doesn't work.

(Disclosure - A publicist from Mr. Levick's office gave me a free copy of the book and encouraged me to review it here. No suggestions were made about what kind of review to give it.)