Greentarget

Lisa Seidenberg

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Cries of “fake news” have become a favored weapon of bad actors looking to cast doubt on credible reporting. But news that is actually fake is a clear threat to our very democracy — and it’s found a prominent breeding ground on increasingly powerful social media platforms.

Last year, our Fake News 2020 report found that 80 percent of journalists strongly believe misinformation has negatively impacted journalism. Furthermore, 56 percent said social media is the single greatest fake news distribution threat. So when we release our second Fake News report later this fall, we’re going to zero in on social media’s role.

And what, if anything, journalists think should be done about it.

Social Media Both Supports and Undermines Credible Journalism

Journalists rely on social media to do their jobs. Many comb social media for story ideas or leads, use it to obtain and verify sources, and share their stories to boost engagement. 

But social media can be a double-edged sword, even if you look past the effects Facebook and other platforms have had on the advertising models of traditional news outlets. Journalists use social media to get reality-based news in front of a broader readership, but propagators of disinformation use it too. From there, audiences can indiscriminately share and disseminate stories (real or fake) quickly and easily. In turn, social media becomes an echo chamber, making it easy for audiences to attack and discredit those same stories.

Social media, obviously, isn’t going away. And because it is one of the main fronts in the fight against fake news, it’s time to sound a battle cry. Whether or not the government ultimately intervenes, we as PR professionals need to do our part to support journalists, amplify truthful news stories, call out fake news when we see it, and commit ourselves to high levels of transparency and ethical behavior. 

2021 Fake News Report: A Preview

In our report last year, journalists overwhelmingly felt it was their responsibility to fight fake news. But they were split on whether the government should get involved. They didn’t agree about whether the U.S. should impose anti-fake news laws to combat misleading information. More than a third (39 percent) supported or strongly supported anti-fake news laws, while nearly as many (35 percent) did not support such laws. About a quarter – 26 percent – said they were neutral toward the potential laws.

But that was before a contentious campaign season, disputed election results, and an unprecedented insurrection at the nation’s capitol — spurred in large part by groups using social media to get their message across. 

And as we face continued vaccination hesitancy and a resurgence of Delta variant-related positive COVID-19 cases, we can’t help but wonder: Have we finally reached a critical turning point in the fight against fake news? 

Evaluating the Communications Decency Act, Section 230

We wanted to know specifically what journalists think about calls to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — which grants internet platforms legal immunity for most content posted by their users. Do journalists feel this act currently grants social media platforms too much leniency? Especially when we factor in alternative, far-right platforms like Parlor, Gab, and MeWe?

The White House has initiated conversations to hold social media platforms more accountable for their content. Is this appropriate? Will this assure journalists more that their credible news stories might have a chance of breaking through the fake news maelstrom? Will such reforms go far enough?

Weighing Additional Governmental Interventions to Combat Fake News

Reforming Section 230 is just one commonly discussed approach aimed at limiting the flow of fake news on social media platforms. Do journalists think the Biden administration should generally prioritize combating fake news – and, if so, how should do they think it be done? Here are some other options:

  • Regulating and enforcing antitrust laws
  • Revising libel and slander laws
  • Revising the “fair use” doctrine 

We’ll also ask journalists for their thoughts on a variety of other issues related to fake news including how the term has evolved in the last year.

How PR Can Help Journalists Fight Fake News

While we may not be on the front lines, PR professionals can and need to support their colleagues in battling the dissemination of fake news. As part of our 2020 report, we vowed to take the following steps. And we encourage your organization to do the same.

  • Support the work of reporters and editors. We value the work that journalists do every day, and we appreciate the privilege of collaborating with them. We pledge to continue to support journalists and amplify reality-based news sources.
  • Stress ethics and transparency. We strongly discourage lying to journalists or putting forth non-credible sources, and we pledge to always fact-check our work. Because we embrace transparent relationships with journalists (and the public), we will always be responsive to journalists’ questions and endeavor to help them solve problems when we can.
  • Put the audience first. Many PR practitioners hone their craft by developing the perfect pitch to get a reporter’s attention. That is, of course, important. But we believe in only offering insights that a journalist’s audience cares about. 
  • Advocate against fake news. We believe it is our responsibility to help others understand the difference between real and fake news, thereby hindering the spread of fake news. Since we believe this starts with educating the next generation of active news consumers, we pledge to take a leadership role for future PR practitioners today, tomorrow, and always.

We’ve followed through on this pledge by devoting podcast episodes to the topic, participating in webinars, lending our voice to roundtables with future PR leaders such as PRSA Voices 4 Everyone, and raising awareness through articles like this one. And we’ll continue to advocate as a voice for truth and transparency in journalism especially while fake news remains a threat. 

We’re excited to share our findings in our 2021 Fake News report this fall. Connect with Greentarget to receive the report right to your inbox. 

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According to Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer, business has emerged from the past year’s tumult as our most trusted institution – considered more credible than the media by the American public.

In fact, fewer than half of all Americans acknowledge any kind of trust in mainstream media, and 56% of Americans believe that “[j]ournalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”

Why Your Business Needs to Stay Engaged With Media

So why would any business leader bother trying to connect with customers and prospects through the media? On top of the loss of trust, you’ve also got the eternal challenge of ceding control. You can deliver your message to a reporter, but how it gets delivered to the audience, if at all, is entirely up to her and her editors.

In spite of all this, we continue to believe that every business leader should engage with the media as a tool for building their authority, burnishing their brand and fueling their business development. It’s not possible to be a true authority without putting your insights through the gauntlet of media scrutiny. We know those purchasing professional services still trust traditional media – and that it influences their purchasing decisions. And furthermore, it’s possible to ensure your messages get delivered through the media – if you understand successful participation.

Maybe you know all of that and still aren’t convinced. If so, here’s another reason: serendipity. Participating in conversations in the media makes it far more likely that a client or prospect will stumble across your name, your insights or your authority. In other words, rather than connecting on your terms – through one of your owned properties, at a conference, or any other channels you use to get out your message – you’ll be connecting on theirs. Rather than feeling like your message is being pushed on them, your client or prospect will feel like they discovered it themselves – perhaps right at a moment when, searching out answers or new information, they need it the most.

Serendipity & Search Rankings

Intuitively, anyone who has scanned a newspaper page, flipped through a magazine or scrolled a news website can recall the experience of landing on a headline that catches their attention and then reading a story they weren’t searching for. Nowadays, when we finish reading that story we’re more likely to pull up Google and go hunting for more information about what we just read – or about the person who delivered the most insightful quotes.

More importantly, news stories generally rank higher in Google search results than most owned content. Google’s algorithm – more accurately, the software people who build it – clearly believe news stories are, as a whole, more trustworthy than other content. That means links to those stories are more likely to appear on the first page of search results on just about any topic.

And in a bizarre twist, surveys show users trust Google News more than other sources of news – including the publications whose articles it links to. Maybe this is because readers trust the order in which Google presents news stories more than they trust the editors at those publications. Or maybe it’s because they don’t understand there’s a difference between the two.

Whatever the reason, participating in media makes your name and insights more likely to appear in the stories that rank highest in many Google searches. So that potential client searching for information in your area of expertise is more likely to encounter your perspective if it’s in a news story than if it’s on your website.

The Bottom Line: Media Participation Works

We started with a number of data points showing the public’s lack of trust in media. But that might not tell the whole story. Our own research, for instance, shows that C-suite executives continue to trust traditional media above other sources. And a Gallup/Knight Foundation survey from last year found that Americans perceive the media as biased – but that perception is largely related to their political beliefs.

Taken together, these surveys indicate that executive audiences think of the business press separately from the political press. And there is ample data to support the instinctual belief that media coverage is an invaluable lead-generation tool.

The bottom line: even as eroding trust gives you another reason to question the value of earned media, participating in the media conversation remains vital – not just for building your credibility as an authority, but to ensure your prospective audience will find you. Especially when they weren’t looking.

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With COVID-19 disrupting life around the world, staying informed matters more, to more of us, than ever. And that’s causing a somewhat surprising side effect:

Authorities are back. And not just the kind who order you to stay home and wash your hands a lot. I’m talking about true subject matter authorities – those experts who have the knowledge and experience to help us make sense of what’s happening.

With information overload, and particularly misinformation overload, plaguing all of us, now is a big moment for authoritative spokespeople who can provide clarity. “People realize when the chips are down, and everything is on the line, and you can be the next person in the hospital bed, it’s the experts that you want to listen to and the experts you wish you had listened to all along,” Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, recently told the Associated Press.

As McNutt and others explore this topic, they typically emphasize experts on health-related issues. But even a glance at the news shows us that the COVID-19 crisis is wreaking havoc on nearly every aspect of our lives. With audiences and journalists alike desperate to know what it all means, now is also the time for those with deep understanding of critical issues of all kinds to engage.

That goes for legal minds who can explain how rules and regulations apply to an unprecedented scenario, policy experts who can explain moves by the Trump administration and other officials, and consultants who can speak to how business leaders can guide their organizations through a “new normal.”

At Greentarget, we believe authorities like that not only have the opportunity, but the responsibility to contribute to the conversation at this pivotal time – both by speaking for themselves and by working with journalists to help disseminate their point of view through the media.

Public Trust for Industry Spokespersons Was High Before the Pandemic

One bit of good news: Even before the pandemic hit, trust for industry spokespersons was high, according to the Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer, which measures the average percent of faith in institutions like NGOs, business, government and media. Further, the findings showed that 92 percent of employees said CEOs should speak out on issues of the day, including retraining, the ethical use of technology and income inequality.

The public already trusts individuals in positions of authority and wants them to speak out more. That’s significant because it underscores how effective thought leadership – as opposed to more noise – can stand out, even in normal times.

And now, as journalists desperately try to keep up with COVID-19’s unprecedented impact in all its forms, they have an increasing appetite for experts who can provide passionate, insightful views that break down how this will affect businesses, healthcare, employment and other critical issues.

Tips on Engaging With the Media

If you’re new to the game of thought leadership but don’t know where to start when speaking with reporters, keep these points in mind:

  • Be Specific: Journalism and research are and will be increasingly data driven, and spokespeople must adapt their messaging accordingly.
  • Be Credible: As public trust in journalism continues to build, it will be increasingly crucial that spokesperson messages are trustworthy while delivering valuable content.
  • Empathy Counts: As newsroom staffs shrink, media relations strategies must be thoughtful, deliberate and empathetic to reporters.
  • Raise the Thought Leadership Bar: Commercial messaging is already a challenge, but the bar for thought leadership is getting higher. Editors will look for content that not only communicates expertise but provides information their audience needs to know.

Thought leaders have a real opportunity to rise above the noise in a moment when expertise is especially valued.  We need our smartest and best thinkers to engage and direct a smarter conversation. Now more than ever.

Return to COVID-19 Resources for Communicators

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The COVID-19 pandemic looks like a blessing and a curse for journalism.

As Donna Gordon Blankinship news and politics editor at Crosscut, a regional publication serving the Pacific Northwest, eloquently noted, “ The public seems to have an almost desperate need for information, guidance and clarity. Journalism has become essential again.”

But while journalism has never been more important, the media business has rarely been so unstable, as publishers begin to feel the impact of an economy on lockdown.

The Good:

  • Readers Can’t Get Enough News: The unprecedented nature of this pandemic has inspired consumers to lean on the media during this time of crisis. Pew Research Center confirmed, “around six-in-ten U.S. adults (57%) say they are following the news about the virus very closely, and an additional 35% are following it fairly closely, according to the survey of 11,537 adults who are members of the Center’s American Trends Panel.”
  • Traffic Is Up: According to data from Parse.ly, a company that measures content performance for more than 3,000 high-traffic news sites, readers’ hunger for coronavirus coverage has driven record-breaking page views for several prominent news sites. The Atlantic confirmed multiple days of historic traffic, and significant subscription growth, particularly since covering the coronavirus.
  • COVID-19 News Output Reaches Great Heights: The number of articles generated on COVID-19 has also exploded. According to Cision’s Global Insights team, which tracks COVID-19 media in real time, 39,596,388 total news articles have been written globally about the virus since January 1. In addition, according to social media monitoring and analytics platform Talkwalker, as of April 17, there had been 11.1 million mentions of COVID-19 on social media, blogs, news websites and forums. And that was just in the previous 24 hours!
  • Cable News Riding High: We aren’t just reading the news. “As millions of Americans are in self-quarantine and practicing social distancing, a huge boost in television ratings, including cable news networks that have been providing roughly 24-hour coronavirus coverage,” Fox News reports.

The Bad:

The economic fallout from COVID-19 has, however, been devastating for the media business.

  • Reporter Layoffs Prevalent: The New York Times reports that about 28,000 journalists have been laid off, furloughed or taken pay cuts as a result of the economic downturn.
  • Alt Weeklies Face Uncertainty: As reported by The Daily Beast, “The pandemic has gutted revenue for alt weeklies, causing mass layoffs and threatening their existence.” The Associated Press also recently wrote an extensive piece on how “local newspapers are facing their own coronavirus crisis.”
  • Popularity of News Podcasts Declines: According to NiemanLab, people staying at home all the time is harming podcasts. U.S. weekly podcast download growth was:  -3% the week of April 6-12, -1% the week of March 30 – April 5, -4% the week of March 23-29, -2% the week of March 16-22, and -1% during the week of March 9-15, across all Podtrac measured podcasts. 

The Future:

  • Ad Revenue Dying: The COVID-19 crisis will force media outlets to make crucial decisions, much sooner than they expected, because of their heavy reliance on ad revenues. Twenty global news publishers recently surveyed by the International News Media Association expect a median 23% decline in 2020 ad sales as a result of coronavirus fallout.
  • Non-Profit Models: A Lifeline? Elizbeth Green, a founder of the nonprofit education news organization Chalkbeat and co-founder of non-profit organization, the American Journalism Project, an organization that supports social entrepreneurs in building sustainable nonprofit news organizations where they live, recently told the New York Times that her non-profit organization might offer a good solution. “The time is now to make a painful but necessary shift: Abandon most for-profit local newspapers, whose business model no longer works, and move as fast as possible to a national network of nimble new online newsrooms. That way, we can rescue the only thing worth saving about America’s gutted, largely mismanaged local newspaper companies — the journalists,” she said.
  • Facebook Offers Support: While Facebook made a commitment in January of 2019 to invest $300 million in local news programs, partnerships and content over the next three years; the company recently announced an additional $100 million investment to support the news industry during the COVID-19 crisis—$25 million in emergency grant funding for local news through the Facebook Journalism Project, and $75 million in additional marketing spend to move money to news organizations around the world.
  • The CARES Act Could Help: NiemanLab recently reported that media companies with fewer than 1,000 employees will turn to the $300-billion-plus allocation for the Small Business Administration for support. It’s to be determined however whether it will be the lifeline they need to stay afloat.

As news organizations across the country adapt to these new challenges and opportunities, we will continue to carefully monitor and report on the resulting data and trends. We believe the principles of journalism play a critical role in driving a smarter conversation and that true authorities have a responsibility to participate skillfully in the ongoing conversation. We know that earning opportunities to express a point of view through traditional media is an effective way for professional services firms to move audiences through the sales funnel, despite the uncertainty facing media outlets today.  

What is certain from our standpoint is that in an era of smaller staffs and a 24-hour news cycle, at Greentarget we will strive to continue be empathetic to reporters. We know reporters are in dire need of authorities with perspectives that serve the rapidly evolving needs of the audiences they serve as this pandemic continues to evolve. We will continue to deliver.

Return to COVID-19 Resources for Communicators

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The troubling spread of disinformation doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon. But news consumers don’t view media sources as the leading culprits.

According to the 2019 IPR Disinformation Report, 63 percent of Americans view disinformation – defined as deliberately misleading or biased information – as a significant problem in society, up there with gun violence (63 percent) and terrorism (66 percent). However, nearly two-thirds of respondents to the IPR survey say local newspapers (62 percent) and local broadcast news (62 percent) are trustworthy. And some of the country’s largest newspapers – USA Today (47 percent), The New York Times (46 percent), The Wall Street Journal (44 percent) and The Washington Post (42 percent) – are widely viewed as trusted sources.

But simultaneously, according to another research report, Americans’ trust in the mass media dropped over the past year – findings that echo the sentiments of panelists at a recent event in Chicago.

Reporters Not Feeling the Love

The current media landscape is something we plan on digging into a lot in 2020, specifically with the upcoming presidential election. But we had a chance in 2019 to hear from some members of the media during the panel, “Preserving the Truth in an Age of Misinformation,” sponsored by Indiana University’s Chicago Alumni Association. Several reporters who spoke said public perception hasn’t swung back in their favor after years of intense attacks against the news media.

Veteran Reuters reporter and foreign correspondent Elaine Monaghan moderated the discussion, which focused on how best to navigate distorted information and share news responsibly. The panel included Meghan Dwyer, WGN Chicago; Traci Rucinski, Reuters; Andrea Hanis, Chicago Tribune; Hannah Alani, Block Club Chicago; Eric White, Chicago Sun-Times and Kale Wilk, Times of Northwest Indiana.

Several panelists blamed the disinformation crisis on a singular culprit: “fake news.”

Dwyer said that the phenomenon is (literally) hitting broadcast reporters on the streets. She recalled doing a story about Jazz Fest in New Orleans. After throwing a beer can that hit her in the head, a heckler shouted, “FU – You’re fake news! Get out of here!”

“We have terrible things said to us daily while standing in the cold, trying to give people the information they need to know about a shooting,” she added.

Hanis agreed. “The fact that people feel journalists are reckless about the truth is hilarious. As journalists we live in a constant state of paranoia,” she said. “Our job is to make sure our reporting is right. We wake up at 3 a.m. scared we got something wrong and run to our laptops in the dark to make sure we didn’t.”

Hanis walked through the process for addressing corrections at the Tribune, illustrating how serious the paper is about getting things right.

“We have a full-time standards editor who creates the policy and holds us accountable,” she said. “Everyone knows that when we get something wrong it’s a big deal.”

Elani addressed how accountability drives her work. “At Block Club, we work for the people, and they pay our salary. We don’t have advertising streams; we don’t have shareholders. The readers own us; we must be accountable,” she said. “They also live and work in the neighborhoods where we live and work, so that impacts our accountability as well.”

Elani talked about how a reader reached out via Twitter with a suggested change to a story. Elani didn’t have time to respond but that same reader happened to see her out that day while jogging and followed up on whether she had caught her suggestion.

Elani handles the fake news talk by taking the time to educate her community about the job of a journalist. “Many times, fake news comes from people recycling the term, but not understanding what journalists do and why they do what they do.”

Headlines and Other Ways to Combat Fake News

While the panelists agreed about the importance of accuracy, they also addressed sensitive topics such as whether they are pressured to create “click bait” headlines to drive readers to stories.

“While our goal is to use a headline to get a reader to read a story, we don’t include anything in our headlines that is untrue,” said White, of the Sun-Times. “That would go against everything we do.”

At Reuters, while headlines are essential, they’re mostly targeted towards the publication’s fastest-growing clientele: media clients.

“We are cognizant that our media clients like Google, Apple, MSNBC and Yahoo are looking towards our headlines and our ability to turn a story around quickly and accurately so that they can repurpose them for their platforms,” Rucinski said.

The reporters also provided great advice for consumers of news who would like to help combat the “fake news” epidemic.

“Talk about the news and cite where you read an interesting article,” Dwyer said. “If you see someone sharing information that’s false, comment on it and then link to the actual source. Sign up for multiple news outlets. Pay for the news, because the news can’t pay for itself.”

Keep Calm and Carry On?

The evening concluded with a final question from the audience: “What keeps you all going given the constant pressures and doubts about your commitment to truth and accuracy?”

“It’s the comradery,” White said. “We’re understaffed and trying to do a good job every day. You feel responsible for the others sitting with you and doing this thing that matters even though it’s not easy and the hours suck.”

Added Dwyer: “I really believe in what we do. We are the Fourth Estate, damn it, and we must hold people accountable. I still love it, even on my bad days.”

Wilk, a reporter and photojournalist at the Times of Northwest Indiana, says that it’s his love of the craft that drives him. “Photos are an incredible and concrete way to capture humanity,” he said.

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What if a yogi with a JD was a law firm’s highest-paid employee? What if a law firm committed to paying a law student’s loans once they passed the bar – if they committed to stay with the firm for two years?

These were just some of the ah-ha moments that Greentarget team members and students of DePaul University’s Public Relations & Advertising (PRAD) Grad class arrived at during a problem-solving workshop guided by innovation sherpa Howell Malham, founder and managing director ofGreenHouse::Innovation. Malham drove the conversation using Innovation Dynamics, his groundbreaking approach to true social innovation and problem-solving that involve large groups of actors: people, in other words.

Our goal? Find answers to the following question:

How can the legal industry attract and retain new talent in an age of clashing cultures?

That question, a critical one for many Greentarget clients, centers on how old-guard attorneys might be more comfortable with long work hours, whereas younger attorneys yearn for wellness programs, robust cultures, professional development opportunities and work-life balance.

The workshop could have taken a lot of different paths, but Malham kept us on track and used his Innovation Dynamics playbook – designed to seek out unseen social forces holding the status quo in place – to produce ideas to disrupt the legal industry. Malham’s playbook identifies six elements that form norms, unwritten rules that govern our behavior and interactions.

Over the course of two hours, we focused on one of those elements: actors, people with close relationships to the problem. Identifying law firm partners, clients, law schools and the students themselves, lateral recruits and families and spouses as just a few of the key players involved in recruiting and retaining legal talent, we discussed their motivations and asked questions such as:

What are the actors’ behaviors related to the problem? What do behaviors suggest about actors’ interests and motivations? What current behavior by a current actor could subvert the norm? What behavior by a new actor might subvert the norm?

The answers present clear challenges to the traditional law firm model.

The partner track is not necessarily attractive to all incoming attorneys, and compensation and benefits are not necessarily enough to keep them around. Younger people are waiting longer to settle down and have families, leaving them flexible to explore options at all stages of their careers. They also enter the job market hungry for meaningful work and purpose. Putting in long hours as an associate to earn their spot on the partner track can clash with those motivations.

Figuring the law firm model is still valuable to many law firm employees and partners, Greentarget and the PRAD Grad students brainstormed the following ways to better align that model with younger lawyers’ motivations:

  • Ex-Lawyers on Staff: Hire and engage employees who have earned their JDs and pursued alternative career paths, such as yoga instructors, journalists and therapists, to tackle recruitment challenges. These individuals understand the pressures of working at law firms and can provide fresh perspectives on the culture and wellness elements firms are trying to employ.
  • “Scott’s Tots”: Inspired by “The Office” episode when Michael Scott (Steve Carell) promises to pay an entire third-grade class’ college tuition after they graduate high school, a firm could sponsor a class at a target law school for recruitment and offer to pay their law school loans if they pass the bar. This level of financial support when so many students are drowning in debt promotes a sense of loyalty from employees.
  • Pro Bono Focus: Once a year, host a marathon where the firm’s lawyers focus solely on pro bono matters and work in shifts for one straight week, 24 hours a day. This level of commitment would not only drive good publicity but also engage all employees in purposeful work outside of their standard client work. 

DePaul’s PRAD Grad students participated as part of a course called Chicago Corporations & Their Agencies, which focuses on working relationships between agencies and clients. The Greentarget team had a great time – and it sounds like the students did too.

“The class couldn’t have gone better,” said Ron Culp, instructor and professional director of PRAD. “Seldom do students linger afterwards, especially when the evening runs past 8 o’clock. No complaints last night.”

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