A lot of public relations involves the attempt to generate media interest in a particular topic. In some cases, however, attention comes your way that is quite unwanted.

This is the negative story.

In Episode 16 -- Anatomy of a Negative Story, we look at the negative story and literally walk through the steps needed to deal with it. We start with the first word that a story is developing -- usually a phone call -- take on the internal assessment and decision-making process, move on to the actual interview with the reporter, and finally discuss how to handle subsequent cycles of the story once it appears.

My guest is Jim Maiella, Vice President of Media Relations for Cablevision, who has broad experience on both the corporate and agency sides of the PR business. Jim has seen negative stories in many contexts and the discussion we have is very informative.