3 ways communicators can stand up for truth

As a kid debating my parents over whatever I deemed the world’s latest injustice, my mother would often counsel, “Saying it louder doesn’t make you right.” Mom was clearly unfamiliar with the internet.

Trending newsfeeds today evoke unrestrained screaming contests. “Fake news” and “alternative facts” have entered the lexicon. The concept of reality is eroding, and it’s increasingly hard to publicly converse with civility or depth. Our technology is manipulated and misused to amplify fallacious arguments and to shill agenda-driven drivel.

In the communications business, as in life, this problem stretches far beyond spin. The promotion of misleading or brazenly fabricated information in the guise of news is a dangerous blight.