On Deadline: Managing Media Relations, Third Edition

Public Relations Quarterly, Spring 2000

On Deadline: Managing Media Relations, Third Edition, Carole M. Howard, APR, ABC and Wilma X. Mathews, ABC, Waveland Press, $22.95.

An updated and greatly expanded third edition of the only full-length text on media relations in the corporate and nonprofit sectors has just been published because of continuing demand, particularly on the Internet, from professionals and students.

Called "an encyclopedia of media relations" by one reviewer, On Deadline: Managing Media Relations, Third Edition is co-authored by Carole M. Howard, APR, ABC and Wilma K. Mathews, ABC. The book represents strategic and tactical guidelines on all aspects of developing and implementing a successful media relations program, drawing on case histories and the authors' extensive experience practicing media relations in the U.S. and around the world.

The Third Edition of On Deadline features expanded coverage of international PR, information on how the Internet, other new technologies and tabloid journalism have changed the practice of media relations, plus new and more case histories.

From the need to establish a media policy within an organization to discussions of the role of communicator as counselor and understanding the news media in other countries, Howard and Mathews offer an unusual breadth of experience and advice in practical terms. They explain how to anticipate and manage crisis situations, train and brief spokespersons, organize news conferences and product launches, match a media plan to an organization's strategic plan, and integrate media relations into a marketing communications plan.

Howard writes, speaks and leads seminars on media relations, global PR, employee communications and marketing. She is the retired vice president of public relations and communications policy for The Reader's Digest Association in New York, where she had worldwide responsibilities for PR and also served on the corporate Management Committee. Mathews has 30 years experience in international and domestic PR management including media relations, marketing communications, crisis communications and planning. She is director of PR for Arizona State University, the third largest public university in the United States, and also heads her own media training and consulting firm. Both authors are former reporters and alumni of AT&T where they held various PR, media relations and marketing positions.

On Deadline: Managing Media Relations, Third Edition is available on the Internet at sites such as amazon.com, or direct from the publisher, Waveland Press, at 847-634-0081. List price is $22.95, with a 20 percent discount for orders of five or more copies.