Communications in the Era of Fake News

The privileged role of traditional media as gatekeepers of news and entertainment is being challenged by a wide range of digital disruptors with their own ideologically biased media outlets and by the pervasiveness of social media.

Keeping tabs on a brand’s reputation becomes increasingly complicated in this evolving landscape. As traditional media are circumvented, corporate communication professionals, mostly trained and experienced in the techniques of the past, need to develop new strategies.

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Join RSM’s three-day masterclass Navigating the New Media Landscape to prepare for corporate communication’s widening and more strategic role.

Date: 12-14 February, 2019 │ Format: In-class study │ Location: Rotterdam

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The technology-driven growth in media outlets, speed of communication, and the ability to target accurately presents enormous opportunities for communicating all forms of corporate message.

On the other hand, digital media can rapidly spread negative stories that damage reputations – exacerbated by their tendency to feed people’s need to find someone to blame for their woes. There is also a growth in stakeholder media – such as Greenpeace or Breitbart – that may be relatively professional but offer a one-sided view.

The media landscape is continually changing. Revelations about fake news and evidence that phoney social media accounts have been used to spread fabricated stories have undermined people’s trust in new media and given new impetus to research-based investigative journalism. Furthermore, after decades of lethargy and loss of market share, the traditional media are becoming increasingly aggressive.

As a result, the role of the communications professional needs to widen and become far more strategic. As well as shaping messages to have maximum impact through new media, they need to monitor the growing number media outlets, deal with purveyors of fake news that have minimal regard for professionalism or veracity, and devise effective channels to spread their message in this evolving new landscape.

RSM’s three-day masterclass, Navigating the New Media Landscape, (which is also a module of RSM’s Executive MSc in Corporate Communication) will address these key issues and explore the following topics:

• The widening role for communication professionals and their obligation to monitor a growing number of actors
• The strategies used by fake news factories to damage reputations
• Investigative journalism and how it can be an ally, and not only or merely an adversary
• The increasing pressure on businesses to appear more socially responsible
• Social media and how to utilise it in an effective way
• The dynamics of corporate interaction with stakeholder-driven media

In this short video Dr Mark Leigh Hunter explains the purpose of the masterclass: