By Wright Communications -
30 June 2017
In the social media era, negative stories can go viral and destroy a business. Now, with the emergence of ‘fake news’, those stories may not even be real.
Fake news is a modern term for what was once known as ‘yellow journalism’. It describes hoaxes, conspiracy theories and bogus news stories that are spread online, often by people who mistake them for genuine news stories.
While some fake news stories are satire (e.g. anything on The Onion), others are deliberately concocted to push political agendas, mislead the public or pursue a vendetta against a person or organisation.
Where it came from
The term fake news emerged following last year's US Presidential
election, which saw several made-up stories get widely shared on
social media.
President Donald Trump then co-opted the term to attack the
mainstream media, over what he and his supporters perceived to be
biased coverage.
New Zealand is not immune to the phenomenon of fake news, as
shown by recent news stories featuring dubious claims of 'Welsh'
skulls that pre-dated the arrival of Maori in New Zealand.
This may fan the flames of conspiracy theories, but when false
reporting targets a company it can do major financial and
reputational damage.
PepsiCo recently faced the threat of a consumer boycott, after
false reports that CEO Indra Nooyi had told supporters of President
Trump to take their business elsewhere.
Shoe company New Balance had the opposite problem: it was
branded by some right-wing websites as supporting President Trump,
due to quotes being taken out of context.
In a polarised world where consumers are increasingly bringing
politics into their purchasing decisions, businesses need to be
careful they don't alienate a big portion of their customer base.
Fake news makes this even harder to avoid.
The New Zealand context
New Zealand businesses are every bit as vulnerable to fake news
as their overseas counterparts, but to be prepared they need to
understand where the threats lie.
While New Zealand has a handful of well-read blogs such as
Kiwiblog and the infamous Whale Oil, it doesn't have the array of
alternative media outlets that generate much of the fake news in
the USA.
The mainstream media still dominate here, as evidenced by the
Commerce Commission rejecting the proposed merger of NZME and
Fairfax due to concerns over market dominance.
However, those looking to push an agenda may target an
inexperienced and naïve journalist, often at a community
newspaper.
For example, the story about ancient Welsh people in New Zealand
was initially reported in the Northern Advocate before
being picked up by the New Zealand Herald.
The good news about fake news is that the Internet seems to be
just as good at sniffing out a fake story as concocting one.
In this instance, both Vice and the Spinoff
were quick to publish articles questioning the claims and the
credentials of the 'historian' who made them.
How to fight it
The best way to fight fake news is with facts, but you need to
ensure they are seen by as many people as possible.
Getting your side of the story into the mainstream media is
important, but in this day and age you can use social media such as
Facebook and Twitter to broadcast the truth unfiltered.
Being quick to react is important, because you will struggle to
go viral responding to yesterday's fake news.
The emergence of fake news is a risk for businesses in general,
but for the Public Relations industry it is both a threat and an
opportunity.
The threat comes from the damage fake news can do to perceptions
of media; if the public don't trust media, the value of positive
media coverage of a business is reduced. This reduces the value of
PR as a service.
On the other hand, the proliferation of fake news makes trusted
sources more valuable to journalists.
A PR practitioner who has a good relationship with a journalist
can add a lot of credibility to a company or brand, making it much
easier to pitch a story (or squash a fake one).
Fake news may be a new phenomenon, but most of the traditional
principles of communications and issues management still apply.
The most important thing is for businesses to be aware of the
risks and to have the capability to respond, whether that is
in-house or through an external agency. A fake story can do real
harm to your business.