From The Conversation… In the immediate hours after the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, social media users posted the same videos, images and eyewitness accounts but used them as evidence for different rumors or theories that aligned with their political preferences. Among the deluge of rumors, one TikTok creator narrated […]
From The New York Times… A story can entertain and inform; it can also deceive and manipulate. Perhaps few stories are as seductive as the ones we tell ourselves about ourselves — those reasonable, principled creatures so many of us presume ourselves to be. As Annalee Newitz writes in “Stories Are Weapons,” propaganda is premised […]
From our very good friend, Tony Jaques, Director of Issue Outcomes Pty Ltd, in North Melbourne, Australia… We all know and recognise them. Dial-a-quote CEOs and business leaders who love to be on TV and offer an opinion on every issue-of-the-day. Problem is they often mistake being provocative and controversial for making a thoughtful contribution to advancing […]
From Ron Carucci and Caroline Mehl, writing for The Harvard Business Review… In the wake of 2023’s turbulent social and political landscape that has spilled over into 2024, business leaders face a compounding challenge as the U.S. presidential election approaches. The campaign vitriol has already begun, and many leaders are dreading what this is going […]
NOTE: The original title of this article is Defending Against Courtroom Conspiracies Through Storytelling. We took the editorial liberty of removing “Courtroom” from the title of this introduction in the hope that non-attorneys will read this, too. Introduction by Bruce Hennes, Hennes Communications In 2024, misinformation continues to be a pervasive force across all sectors […]
By Howard Fencl and Thom Fladung for Hennes Communications “Nothing in the Constitution requires the Government freely to grant access to all who wish to exercise their right to free speech on every type of Government property without regard to the nature of the property or to the disruption that might be caused by the […]
From Mark Landler and Adam Satariano, writing for The New York Times… The whirl of conspiracy theories that enveloped Catherine, Princess of Wales, before she disclosed her cancer diagnosis last week probably didn’t need help from a foreign state. But researchers in Britain said Wednesday that a notorious Russian disinformation operation helped stir the pot. Martin Innes, an expert […]
by Howard Fencl, Hennes Communications A woman armed with an attitude and a smartphone is aggressively patrolling the halls of a county administration building taking video every step of the way. She refuses to identify herself to the county workers she confronts in public spaces in the building, yet she disrupts their workday barking incessant […]
From Sara Ödmarka at the Department of Communication, Quality Management and Information Systems, Mid Sweden University,Sundsvall, Sweden and Jonas Nicola at the Center for Sociological Research, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium “When I asked people ‘Are you journalists?’ they would say no. But if I asked them ‘Is what is what you do journalistic?’ they say […]
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network. It also operates PolitiFact. In journalism circles, Poynter is considered to be a trusted source. So when Poynter publishes a headline like this it’s a […]