Dear PR Matters,
I enjoyed Mr. Nieva’s article on alternative news, a reality we all have to face these days. Gone are the days when we could verify everything. Now, it seems that the power of technology and the lack of regulation have drawn blurred lines between truth and reality, and falsehood.
As a PR practitioner, is it possible at all to fight fake news? What can we do to protect the companies we work for?
Sincerely,
MJ L.
Dear MJ,
Thank you for your letter, MJ. Fake news is a concern for everyone, especially PR practitioners.
In an article in PR News Online, Katie Creaser, senior vice president for Affect, said she “could not believe the falsehoods that my own network of family and friends were sharing as news on social media. During the election cycle, I worried when false and malicious stories seemed to take off like wildfire—often trending above stories from respected news outlets.”
She continued “to be concerned that fake news sites seem to be thriving while the established press struggles to keep up subscription rates. Fake news has been around forever, but in the digital age, its influence is far greater.” Creaser said fake news from phony click—bait new sites, to falsified stories—is a threat to the PR industry. If PR is going to survive, “good journalism must thrive, and PR pros should be more accountable than ever for their work”.
In the age of fake news, we are accountable for so much more than the brands we represent. And this means changing our attitude about working with the media.
“When we are selfish in our craft and move away from quality and ethics in favor of bulk media coverage, we are contributing to the problem,” she said.
But can we do something about fake news? Creaser has some suggestions in her article “How PR can Fight #FakeNews and Why It Should”.
- Pitch real news. “We must renew our commitment to provide real news [and, in turn, real value], to journalists,” she said. Media relations is so much more than “securing a hit and many of us have forgotten that we play an important role in the news cycle”.
This means “adjusting the way we measure success—steering brands we work for away from vanity metrics [#fakemetrics, anyone?] and the quantity of coverage toward a model that measures real business impact, quality and relevance of media coverage”.
- Use real sources. Creaser said newsjacking or leveraging breaking news to elevate your brand’s message is great, but the best media opportunities are those that demonstrate deep expertise and knowledge.
- Create real content. This means we have to work on our own materials and skills. “Poorly written PR content is the junk food of journalism and it damages the reputation of its publisher,” she said. “To fix this, we need to do a better job of counseling the brands we represent, and prove to them that the real value of contributed content is joining and leading conversations about important and timely topics.” In short, we must work on our craft.
- Be ethical and transparent. As PR pros, “we are often gatekeepers to the content that is shared with the public. When you send unchecked, unverified information to a journalist, you are responsible for the proliferation of fake news”.
As such, “we must hold ourselves and the brands and spokesmen that we work with to the highest standards, making sure they are ethical and transparent”.
- Use your powers for good. As PR practitioners, we have a way of spotting fake news. Creaser said it is important that we use our skills to help dismantle it.
“On a small scale, we should be discouraging the spread of fake news within our networks [including family and friends] improving media literacy, and helping those around us discern good journalism from garbage.” We should also be mentoring young people on best practices for media monitoring and how to tell a true news story from a fake.
On a larger scale, Creaser said it’s important to “consider supporting organizations that are committed to supporting journalism, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, The News Literacy Project, The Arthur W. Page Center and First Draft”.
Creaser said we can do our own share by “being more altruistic, working hard alongside our partners in the media, supporting their work to keep the public informed of the truth”. In short, everything starts with us.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.