fake news

Fake news is a global concern says BBC survey

Neville Hobson Leave a comment Communication, Mainstream Media, Online Media, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media, Social Networks, Society, Trends, Web

To many people, the phenomenon known as fake news is something that’s moved beyond just a news item itself and into the realm of trust. With so much reporting and commentary about fake news, it’s no surprise that we’re placing greater importance on verifying the truthfulness of what we read, listen to and watch that is called ‘news.’ Whether it’s online or via the traditional mainstream media, or from companies, governments and others, we want to feel assured that what we encounter as news is real and not fake or propaganda. Take the image above, a snapshot from the news I saw earlier today in the BBC News app on my Android tablet. To me, some of the news items […]

Continue reading

For Immediate Release 105: Centre Stage for Credible Sources

Neville Hobson Leave a comment Business, Communication, Ethics, For Immediate Release, Marketing, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media, Society, Technology, Trends, Web

Shel and I got together for the September edition of The Hobson & Holtz Report to talk about these topics: The self-inflicted downfall of the UK PR agency Bell Pottinger (and kudos to the PRCA for putting teeth in its ethics code) How various fields will be affected by speech recognition (including PR and communications) Mitch Joel’s open letter to the advertising industry: Let’s not mess up ads for voice The proliferation of fake scientific journals (and what it means for the PR industry) The Pew Research Center has identified five “types” of people who search for facts and information, with implications for content marketing Are Americanisms killing British English (and does it matter)? In his Tech Report, Dan York […]

Continue reading

Add your views on fake news to SNCR research survey

Neville Hobson 1 Comment Advertising, Business, Communication, Mainstream Media, Marketing, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media, Society, Technology, Trends, Web

Marketers, do you know where your ads are running? In early August, the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) of The Conference Board announced a new research initiative to tackle the problem of fake news, and investigate how to combat it. SNCR Advisory Board member Jeff Pundyk leads the SNCR Fellows research team (of which I am a member). Our project begins with an important first step – benchmarking marketers’ awareness, attitudes and intended actions as advertising technology and fake news collide. If you have responsibility for or are involved in managing advertising, paid content marketing, paid social, native and programmatic advertising, please take our short survey (5-7 minutes long). Your answers will be anonymous and we’ll use them in […]

Continue reading

SNCR research initiative sets out to find solutions to address fake news

Neville Hobson 4 Comments Advertising, Business, Communication, Journalism, Marketing, Public Relations, Reputation, Social Media, Society, Technology, Trends, Web
Truth

Hardly a day goes by without the topic of fake news becoming a news headline itself especially when it concerns Donald Trump. For most people, fake news is largely seen as a driver of distrust about what you read, see and hear online as well as a creator of fear, uncertainty and doubt about the sources that publish it. Earlier this year Tim Berners-Lee said that misinformation – or ‘fake news’ which is surprising, shocking, or designed to appeal to our biases – can spread like wildfire. And it does. For the past six months and more, it’s a topic that has been an ongoing primary discussion theme in the Small Data Forum podcast I co-host each month with Thomas […]

Continue reading

How to play your part in fighting fake news

Neville Hobson 2 Comments Communication, Mainstream Media, Online Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Social Networks, Society, Software, Technology, Trends, Web
Facebook News Feed

One of the scourges of modern connected times is the rise of so-called fake news, a phenomenon that’s invasive and pervasive and a driver of distrust about what you read, see and hear online as well as fear, uncertainty and doubt about the sources that publish it. And not only such reactions upon immediate discovery, but also the unwitting spread of fake news by those who publish, talk about or share such content without knowing it’s false. It’s not new by any means – in the pre-internet days, it was called propaganda. Today, though, with the vast connectedness with others we enjoy via the global internet, it is so easy to amplify falsehoods, wittingly or unwittingly, with a quick retweet […]

Continue reading