PR Practitioners: You’ve Got a Lot More on Your Plate

Fake News and PR

Within the past few years, fake news stories have spread like wildfire along with the advent of social media taking the number one spot as most people’s preferred news source. Among the first documented cases of the fake news conundrum include the 2012 article about Hurricane Sandy flooding the NYSE being proven false, or more recently the Facebook security check hoax last month. As a budding public relations practitioner, I can see that this presents a problem for people actually working in the field. With stories of this nature breaking out, there is a chance their organization can be targeted, and can result in major damage to its reputation if it isn’t handled in the correct manner.

If I’ve learned one thing in the past 10 years of being a smart phone owner and social media user, it’s that you shouldn’t always take what you see pop up on your timeline at face value. At the same time however, it’s unrealistic to believe that other people will follow suit. Keeping that in mind, I think that it’s always a good idea for PR teams to have several different counteractions in their back pocket in order to react in both an intelligent and efficient manner. This could include sitting down and developing at least one form of basic protocol for team members to start with in response to any case of fake news. Having a few different plans in place would be even better, since there might not be a perfect plan to fit every crisis that comes up. Another helpful tactic would be to define an appropriate length of time to allow for professionals to draft a public response and find more information to correctly answer questions brought by the press.

They Said, Then THEY Said

I think that in some ways, social media can be compared to either a game of telephone or a conga line. When an article or meme gains enough attention and is deemed interesting enough by the public, it’s not surprising that a lot of people will have shared it with their friends and family, especially when the topic concerns public safety or a highly relevant public figure. There are times that a perfectly legitimate story can be taken out of context due to either one detail by the wrong person, and subsequently branch out into a new article that compromises its integrity. This revelation tells me that public relations practitioners have more on their plate because of how quickly things can be shared. Whether it’s a negative Yelp! review or a rumor circulating on Reddit, keeping track of what people are saying about their brand online is essential to their brand’s survival.

Criminally Fake

In the case of the Hurricane Sandy hoax, criminal charges have been mentioned as a possible consequence for the Shashank Tripathi, the fake article’s writer, although there has been no further word explaining if they were actually carried out. Thinking generally, I believe that if there’s undeniable proof that a fake article has intentionally done damage to a person or business’ reputation, therefore falling within the legal realm of libel, then charges being pressed against the writer would be an appropriate course of action.

In conclusion, fake news can present an annoying, yet serious threat to people in different occupations. However, I believe that public relations professionals have the most work on their hands when such cases pop up, and that is why caution, patience and critical thinking are key to a brand’s survival in the event that it is targeted.