The speed and access of information today has increased the scrutiny level facing risk managers in higher education. It is true that a more complex, more connected world has created new risks and new issues for university leadership. However, a lot of the same issues have remained constant for campuses: (1) emergency management; (2) campus safety; and (3) employee insurance. The key factors that have dynamically shaped the world over the last few decades have created an environment in which information travels around the globe in seconds. These ever-changing dynamics bring new challenges to the focus area of risk management. One important challenge is the necessity to avoid allowing the "CNN effect" to cause an imbalance within the process of evaluating and managing risks facing universities. The CNN effect is a theory used among political scientists to describe the effect that constant coverage of news media has on global politics. A similar effect can be seen throughout today's campuses as it relates to risk management. Crisis events over the last several years have driven universities to focus inordinately on incidents that have a very low probability of occurring. That said, it also seems those very events are likely to have an enormous impact, regardless of the level of training and preparedness. How can risk managers in higher education maintain a balanced approach to assessing and managing risks, while ensuring all their strategies are not overly influenced by high-profile incidents? This article discusses five key steps that risk managers in higher education can take to maintain balance: (1) Gauge the "tone at the top"; (2) Clarify goals and associated risks; (3) Identify gaps and potential impacts; (4) Add risk management planning to existing planning efforts; and (5) Execute and measure results. (Contains 3 figures and 4 notes.)