When Michael J. Ellis saw how cancer was ravaging his father’s body, he was desperate to find something—anything—that would help ease the dying man’s suffering. It just so happened that Ellis discovered such a method in herbal remedies—but in a fateful twist, his research inadvertently uncovered something else entirely, a secret that would also impact American society: a weight loss product that actually worked! Five years later, in 1998, Ellis stood at the head of Metabolife International, Inc., one of the most successful and notorious herbal supplement companies in the world. Millions of Americans were taking its revolutionary product, Metabolife 356, to lose weight. By all accounts, it was the perfect Cinderella story—but this fairy tale would not have a happy ending. Metabolife 356, with its remarkable success and happy customers, had cut into the profits of the nation’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. In short order, the pharma industry’s watchdog, the FDA, intervened, turning its sights on Metabolife and the product’s active ingredient, ephedrine. For all Americans, the FDA’s actions have had shattering consequences. This is the true story of one of the most audacious thefts in corporate history; a story about how a massive clerical error led to one of the largest IRS raids in history; a story about how no man, however guiltless, is immune to the awful power of the media. Above all, this is the story of one federal agency’s successful attempt to steal a safe and effective product from the American public through little more than propaganda and misinformation.

"The Wizard of Spin."—Los Angeles Times "The spin doctor's spin doctor." —Financial Times "The Winston Wolf of Public Relations....Wolf, if you recall, was the fixer in Pulp Fiction. Played by Harvey Keitel, he washed away assassins' splatter and gore. Sitrick, 65, cleans up the messes of companies, celebrities, and others, and he's a strategist who isn't averse to treating PR as combat. Over the years, clients of Sitrick & Co. have included the late HP chairman Patricia Dunn, Roy Disney, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Vick, Alex Rodriguez, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the Church of Scientology."—Fortune Magazine "Everyone understands the importance of shaping a story, but few are as shrewdly proficient at manipulating the media as L.A. crisis manager Mike Sitrick"—Fast Company What do you do when the reputation you've built over decades is destroyed in a day? In the court of public opinion, you're rarely innocent until proved guilty, and your enemies don't have to play by the rules. Any misstep can blow up into a worldwide embarrassment on Facebook and Twitter, land on the front page of the New York Times, and bring down a CEO, a business, or a celebrity. You need a smart strategic response. You need Mike Sitrick. In this book, Sitrick reveals the secrets that have made him America's preeminent crisis communications expert. You'll see how the PR legend and his team guided clients like the estate of Michael Jackson and Papa John's Pizza through the media-fueled fires of scandal, while helping others, like Roy Disney and the filmmakers who exposed the Russian Olympic doping scandal, achieve justice. You'll learn Sitrick's Ten Rules of Engagement and his thoughts on "no comment," social media, public apologies, and more. The question isn't whether you'll face a crisis one day, especially if you are at the top of your game. The question is what will you do when crisis comes? Don't let a lie get repeated until it's "fact," festering forever on Google. Don't let a damaging truth, stripped of nuance and context, damage your reputation forever. Follow the Fixer.

Exploring the increasing interest in public affairs by organizations, the author indicates that more and more frequently corporations are establishing public affairs positions - typically within public relations departments - to respond to issues and concerns arising out of the sociopolitical environment in which the corporation functions.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This innovative and popular text provides a clear pathway to understanding public relations campaigns and other types of strategic communication. Implementing the pragmatic, in-depth approach of the previous editions, author Ronald D. Smith presents a step-by-step unfolding of the strategic campaign process used in public relations practice. Drawing from his experience in professional practice and in the classroom, Smith walks readers through the critical steps for the formative research, strategic and tactical planning, and plan evaluation phases of the process. Offering clear explanations, relevant examples, and practical exercises, this text identifies and discusses the decision points and options in the development of a communication program. The cases and examples included here explore classic public relations situations as well as current, timely events. This third edition includes expanded discussions of ethics, diversity, and technology integrated throughout the text, and has a new appendix addressing media training for clients. As a classroom text or a resource for professional practice, this volume provides a model that can be adapted to fit specific circumstances and used to improve effectiveness and creativity in communication planning. It serves as an accessible and understandable guide to field-tested procedures, offering practical insights that apply to public relations campaigns and case studies coursework.