Book Review -- Stop the Presses: The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference

Stop the Presses:  The Crisis and Litigation PR Desk Reference
Richard S. Levick , Esq. and Larry Smith
Second Edition
Watershed Press, 2007
218 pages
$29.95

Stop the Presses is a gem.  Further subtitled “Bullet-proofing Brands and Protecting Reputations in an Age of Peril,” the book is written for anyone facing a crisis or litigation, that is, for companies as well as for law firms.  Chock full of advice and strategic pointers based on real life examples, set out fully as cautionary tales, the book illustrates what works, what doesn’t, what you should do and shouldn’t do, and when and how.  Chapters include (among many, many others):  The Life Cycle of a Brand; What’s at Stake?  Here’s the Quick Answer…Maybe Everything; The Quintessential Crisis Team:  Two Approaches; The Crisis Plan:  From Action Points to Talking Points—and Back to Action.  Other chapters focus on how blogs have taken crisis communication to the next level and how cultural differences affect media management across borders.  The chapter focused on law firms in crisis is particularly helpful. 

Appendices cover such material as litigation planning, a crisis management primer for in-house counsel, and crisis scenarios. 

I cannot imagine having any responsibility for brand maintenance, image, reputation, media relations, or crisis management and not having this book close at hand.  As a side benefit, it’s beautifully written.  Let it serve as a model of how to write and you have a multi-purpose work.