EXCLUSIVE: We discovered how to stop the fake news phenomenon!

EXCLUSIVE: We discovered how to stop the fake news phenomenon

• The phenomenon of fake news is often accepted and spread because it aligns with people's existing expectations and fears, making them difficult to combat.
• In communicating with the public, it is essential to analyze emotional reactions, simplify messages and communicate clearly in order to increase the effectiveness of combating misinformation.
• Even people with critical thinking can be vulnerable to the avalanche of information; therefore, organizations must ensure the presence of a credible, empathetic and easily accessible voice that conveys the truth.

I am not immune to fake news. But over the past few years, I've fallen into the trap of thinking that:

• Ibuprofen and COVID do not reconcile very well, which cost me several days of pain;
• Elon Musk hangs out at Bran, which cost me some ironies from friends;
• Florin Salam died, which cost me a second wave of ironies.

If I draw the line, I think I got away, however, quite easily.

I like to believe, however, that I have never contributed to the spread of fake news. It's not a special merit, it's just the exacerbated filter of self-awareness that keeps me from sharing or publicly expressing a lot of opinions.

But I have an opinion that working in PR has clearly formed for me, since the first month of the agency and that I allow myself to share with you: fake news is what people already expect to hear.

That is why misinformation is embraced tightly and passed on, just like a flu, to those who then, for the moment, have lower immunity. But the question remains: how do we use this when fighting misinformation?

We understand and anticipate the phenomenon of fake news

We analyze what people's fears are, what worries them, what arouses sarcasm, what arouses aggressive or uncontrolled reactions. I spend dozens of minutes a week reading social media comments on topics of interest to my clients and it never ceases to be fascinating. It helps me stay grounded in that deep reality and figure out what we have to contend with.

We prepare communication strategies to combat misinformation

People are tired, overwhelmed, bored, and no one owes us attention. It is our role to know where we find them and reach them, to communicate to them clearly and concisely the message we have to transmit and to make them available in their decoding process.

Emotional balance and responsible communication in the face of misinformation

It is human to have anger reactions and very handy to blame those who believe, who fall into the sprawling traps. When we find ourselves in those traps, we realize, however, that even the sharpest critical spirit can sometimes be vulnerable in the face of the avalanche of information that constantly presses all our emotional buttons.

I do not have a remedy for generating fake news, as promised in the title. We are definitely talking about an old phenomenon since the world, which was not born with social media. What we propose, however, in communication is to ensure that in the public space there is also a strong, empathetic and accessible voice that tells the truth.

Because sometimes truth has this unique quality, of detaching itself from background noise, and people's common sense is still a resource that gives us a lot of hope.

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