Chapter 2. YOU ARE THE STORY

"When the satellite TV truck has pulled into the corporate parking lot, it is too late to discuss crisis management."

Howard Paster, CEO of Hill and Knowlton

Picking up the phone and discovering there's a journalist on the other end of the line can cause your heart to skip a beat, making it potentially easy to say something inappropriate and newsworthy. It's a natural reaction. Unless you've just won a Nobel Prize or an Academy Award, rarely does a journalist call because it's good news. I've personally witnessed the darting eyes, sweat-soaked shirt, and trembling voice of a newsmaker or spokesperson caught off-guard by an unexpected inquiry. But how you manage this initial encounter may very well determine whether ...

Get When the Headline Is You: An Insider's Guide to Handling the Media now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.