Role of Public Relations in the age of Misinformation

Friends, Thank you very much for taking out time from your busy schedule to read my blog(s). Sharing knowledge with you has become my passion now. I feel encouraged after reading your feedback in the comments column.  Today I’m very happy to present 105th Blog “Role of Public Relations in the age of Mis-information”.  

Friends, in my opinion Misinformation or fake news is an organized lying whereas PR is a source of trusted content in a world of uncertainty. Both, the Media and the consumer seeking out trustworthy brands, trust PR practitioners to deliver truthful content, while the clients call on PR practitioners to protect their reputation in a risky world.

The 21st century is a media-saturated, technology dependent and globally connected world. Today's digitized world has made it easier than ever for content creation and distribution. The evolving and complex digital landscape has exposed individuals to a vast array of unfiltered information available in multiple formats. Social media have become breeding grounds for large-scale information sharing. Unconfirmed information flourishes in the wide-open media of the digital age, spurring concerns about its role in influencing public opinion. Today’s information environment is rife with misinformation and fake news stories. The unregulated nature of the internet has contributed to large masses of organized lying, and fake news stories being created and circulated online causing massive confusion among people.

The rapidly changing information landscape, the growing distrust in mainstream news institutions, and decline of traditional news sources have all contributed to the increasing circulation of misinformation and disinformation. These dynamics testify to the mounting challenges facing online users to assess the credibility of information. A growing public mistrust in the media coupled with a lack of shared understanding of what constitutes a reliable news source is a testament to the declining trust and confidence in the information people receive from online news sources.

Friends, Marshall McLuhan once said Medium is the message. What it means? It means that the forms and methods i.e. the “media” used to communicate information have a significant impact on the messages they deliver including the meanings and other perceptions about those messages.

Friends, I would like to share few important figures with you that will set the tone of this blog…….

India’s population is over 142.86 Cr. as of now.

Smartphone users in India are around 75Cr.

48.7% of India’s population is using internet.

Facebook Users in India are around 315 million

Twitter users in India are around 25 million

Instagram users in India are around 230 million

Pinterest users in India are around 450 million

LinkedIn users in India are around 99 million

YouTube users in India are around 467 million

TikTok, though banned in India, but it's users in India are around 200 million

Telegram users in India are around 120 million

Current Affairs and News TV Channels as of now are around 240

Newspapers as of now are over one Lakh five thousand.

Friends, from year 1950s to early 1990s the focus of PR professionals was on Print Media that included Newspapers, news magazines, trade journals and electronic media which was restricted to Doordarshan and Akashwani or All India Radio. And I had never heard terms like misinformation, disinformation or fake news. I’m pretty sure that these terms never existed till the end of 20^th century.

Friends, internet began in India in the year 1986 but was available to general public on 15^th August 1995. Christened as Web 1.0, this only allowed one dimensional communication process. It was the first stage of evolution of World Wide Web when only static HTML was possible. People could not take part in content development. The period of Web 1.0 is roughly from 1995 to early 2004. The disadvantageous feature of Web 1.0 resulted in second generation of World Wide Web called Web 2.0 which we are using from 2004-2005 till now.

Friends Web 2.0 gave birth to New media or Digital Media or Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) which include a wide variety of web-related communication technologies, such as blogs, wikis, online social networking, virtual worlds i.e. Metaverse.

Web 2.0 enhanced the communication process by allowing people to participate in creating web content and also information sharing.

In other words, you can say that it began with just reading the content on websites Web 1.0 but now users can give their input and increase the scope of the content Web 2.0 and this new technology became origin of mis-information i.e. sharing information without knowing it is wrong, of Disinformation i.e. deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda and of Fake News i.e. purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news.

News, articles, quotes, pictures etc. can be shared in an instantaneous click response regardless if it is good or bad. Fact-checking, validation and plain common sense were / are not employed and mis-information, disinformation and fake news can become an issue in short order and lead to major crisis and later becomes an emergency. Therefore, in the age of instant news, the role of PR has become more and more important.

Friends, Misinformation, disinformation and fake news spread in digital media are becoming a serious social challenge. It is leading to the toxic atmosphere in the virtual world and causing unrest in the real world. In the age of the internet it is a serious problem as rumors, morphed images, click-baits, motivated stories, unverified information, planted stories for various interests spread easily among over 60 crore internet users in India. In our Bharat, WhatsApp is the platform most vulnerable to misinformation – disinformation and fake news. Millions of people, out of which  a vast percentage is uneducated, are using smart phones with internet connectivity  innocently forwarding messages every day are seen as most vulnerable to misinformation and fake news.

Friends, Public relation professionals have been tasked with very specific and basic responsibilities, key amongst them for countering ‘mis-information and or fake news’ are…..

- Communication management

- Relationship management

- Crisis management

- Risk management

All of which lead to a consulting role within the top management of an organisation as an expert communication advisor on organizational policies. In my opinion an accomplished PR professional helps integrate the concerns of the organization’s publics into the management decision-making process. This extends to how ‘mis-information or fake news’ is addressed and countered by the organization.

Friends, now the question is how PR practitioners can take on misinformation?

My answer to this question is that PR practitioners can use a cluster of reactive public relations strategies e.g. 1) pre-emptive action, (2) offensive response strategies, (3) defensive response strategies, (4) diversionary response strategies, (5) vocal commiseration strategies, (6) rectifying behavior strategies and (7) strategic inaction, to neutralize the negative effect of online misinformation-disinformation and or fake news on their clients.

Besides above, PR professionals should also emphasize on the basics of the PR profession, for example…..

a. Organization’s Crisis Communications plans should be updated to include potential threats and proposed responses.

b. Keep managing Brand Reputation on an ongoing basis. This includes monitoring mentions of the clients brand on all social and traditional channels.

c. By maintaining an active presence on client’s social channels because client’s followers are more apt to come to their client’s defense or point out when something is posted that isn’t in a usual tone.

d. Be Responsive when an issue arises. We live in a world where we have seconds to capture attention and seconds to lose it.

e. Build Relationships with journalists, bloggers, influencers and client’s target audience.

Friends, PR professionals have an obligation to help their clients to identify what is and what is not fact-based. Responsible public relations professionals provide facts, encourage a transparent relationship with the target public and are responsive to questions and issues as they arise. In doing so misinformation, disinformation and fake news are revealed for what they really are and the public trust is built over time to organically combat and filter out this noise.

As PR practitioners, it’s our responsibility to help the client understand what separates trustworthy media from irresponsible or even malicious outlets, News and social media channels which act as a fertilizer for untruths.

Now the question is…. how to manage the fast-spreading mis- information or false information? The answer is…….

1. Understand motivation: While they may have the same effect on reputation, misinformation and disinformation are distinguished by intent. The sharer of misinformation believes the falsehood to be true. The sharer of disinformation manufactures it to intentionally spread a lie. A communication campaign is probably enough to combat misinformation, while disinformation will likely require a more extensive approach.
2. Know how disinformation spreads: Determining the root cause of a falsehood’s proliferation is key in fighting back. Disinformation travels five times faster than factual information online. Information that is simply stated, seemingly credible, affirms a popular opinion, or brand new can indicate effective disinformation.
3. Start listening: Disinformation typically originates in the fringes of the internet or on the dark web. Expand your monitoring services to include the dark web. Keep an eye on malicious sites by using dark web crawlers or fake news monitoring services, which track hundreds of websites and provide real-time alerts if disinformation appears to be headed mainstream.
4. Change the narrative: Be prepared. Really understand who may target the company, why, and their positioning to plan your response ahead of time. If needed, alter your communication to address a molehill before it becomes a mountain. Brands need to have a strategy and develop messaging, responses, and safeguards so, when an attack occurs, they're ready to go. Use crisis communications plan as a starting point for addressing false information.
5. Leverage support network: While businesses need to come to their own defense, endorsements and opinions from credible third parties can be invaluable. But you must start building those relationships now.
6. Make friends before you need them is a maxim of crisis communications. Remember that nobody is going to risk their own reputation and credibility for an organization, and in a situation they’re not familiar with.

Mis-information or False information has always existed, but with the right proactive and reactive tools, PR professionals can defend and manage the image, perception and reputation of their client.  Last but not least, I would request all the PR professionals to practice ethical public relations and not become a party to propaganda or negative publicity.  Fair, honest, and accurate communication with the media and the public fosters trust and respect. Remaining credible helps protect our client’s target publics from rumors, conspiracy theories, and misinformation or fake news as they navigate the never-ending list of headlines on their social media feeds. In doing so, we can collectively drive out unreliable sources to limit the spread of misinformation and disinformation or fake news. 

Friends, misinformation-disinformation and fake news have the potential to polarize public opinion, to promote violent extremism and hate speech and, ultimately, to undermine democracies and reduce trust in the democratic processes. Therefore, I would also request all the media educators, institutions and colleges providing media educations to provide their students with a solid education on media, PR and information literacy as part of the curriculum. Media educators must also be well-trained in the subject to empower students with the necessary competences to critically understand and assess information reported by all forms of media.

 

Thank you for reading the blog.

 

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