I used to be heartened when, greater than a yr into the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Surgeon Common Vivek Murthy took a stand publicly in opposition to misinformation, calling it “an pressing risk to public well being.”
I couldn’t have agreed extra.
From the start of the pandemic, the main target of my employer, a nationally ranked well being system, had change into safeguarding public well being. And the work of our company communications group had turned to sharing correct, well timed info and serving as an essential adjunct to under-resourced public well being businesses. Our aim throughout the deadliest pandemic in additional than 100 years was to cease the unfold and save lives.
By the point the vaccine turned out there in late 2020, greater than 26,000 individuals in our service space had contracted COVID and greater than 300 had died. Different components of the nation fared a lot worse.
Quickly spreading social media messages encouraging skepticism of the vaccine’s effectiveness have been sabotaging the heroic efforts of those that developed the doubtless life-saving vaccine in report time — in addition to these of our frontline caregivers, who have been exhausted after a yr combating the pandemic and now confronted anger and resentment as they labored to rescue severely unwell sufferers, most of whom have been unvaccinated.
As communicators, our group wasn’t simply combating a pandemic, we have been waging a warfare — a warfare on misinformation.
Whereas freedom of speech permits individuals to say issues which can be deceptive or just incorrect, the First Modification additionally has its restrict. You don’t yell “hearth” in a crowded theater, for instance, with out penalties. Equally, social media should assume accountability for the data being shared on its platforms as their dominance as a information supply grows.
Thankfully, social media platforms have been proactive in creating considerate interventions to deal with false and deceptive posts. As PR professionals, we should do our half by first committing to sharing solely info that’s correct and truthful, and that serves the general public curiosity. We additionally should actively advocate to get rid of info that misinforms or intentionally misleads the general public.
PRSA, because the voice of our career, has taken a stand on misinformation with the Voices4Everyone initiative that seeks to fight misinformation by selling media literacy, and offering schooling and thought management on the subject. Our affiliation can be talking up on high-profile misinformation instances and offering clear steerage for members by publishing PRSA Moral Requirements Advisory 21, which advises that we:
- Learn and confirm the validity of sources for info earlier than sharing it.
- Educate staff to reduce the danger of spreading false info on social media or different retailers.
- Use acceptable language to precisely talk, slightly than delicate pedal, the seriousness of a state of affairs.
- Make investments time and sources to proactively establish and deal with the unfold of false info by presenting credible sources that share factual info.
Analysis reveals that almost all of People consider misinformation represents a severe risk to democracy and to our financial system. It will also be life-threatening, as we noticed throughout the pandemic.
Linda Staley, APR, Fellow PRSA, a member of the PRSA Board of Ethics and Skilled Requirements, is previous president of the Blue Ridge Chapter.
[Illustration credit: bakhtiarzein]
