Fake News Award Submission

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MARCOM AWARDS | STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS - COMMUNICATIONS/PR - 161C. SPECIAL EVENT

Event Series:

FAKE NEWS, REAL CONSEQUENCES 

OVERVIEW

Fake news is nothing new. It's an ambiguous term for a type of journalism that fabricates material to perpetuate a preferred narrative suitable for political, financial, or attention-seeking gain. It assumes many forms and has done so throughout history. Trending heavily since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, fake news has had an impact on industry and political leaders, global brands and small businesses and – of course – the news industry. LEWIS surveyed roughly 1,000 Americans and found ...

57%

78%

66%

say social media platforms are the biggest source of fake news

feel fake news has damaged the credibility of the media industry

trust content from media outlets they are more familiar with

*full research methodology and results included in white paper in the Results section

APPROACH

As a global communications agency serving clients across a spectrum of industries, LEWIS recognized how fake news has the potential to impact brand stories in profound ways. Supporting credible media with ethical and transparent dialogue is an integral part of the agency’s mission, so we sought to do what no other agency was doing and confront the fake news issue head-on.

IN MARCH 2017, LEWIS LAUNCHED "DEFINING JOURNALISM IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD," A MEDIA PANEL EVENT SERIES FEATURING TOP-TIER JOURNALISTS AND INDUSTRY EXPERTS. EVENTS WERE HOSTED ACROSS SEVEN MAJOR GLOBAL MARKETS: SAN FRANCISCO, BOSTON, WASHINGTON D.C., NEW YORK CITY, PARIS, LONDON AND AMSTERDAM.

EXECUTION

To kick off the event series, the agency hosted a special Bay Area edition in San Francisco titled, Beyond Politics – The Impact of Fake News on Silicon Valley. This event focused on what the proliferation of misinformation means for the tech industry.

EXECUTION

A crowd of nearly 200 gathered to hear our panel of journalists, from CNBC, The Information, New York Times, USA Today and BuzzFeed News, tackle one of the most important issues facing their industry today. The topics discussed included: The war Apple, Facebook, Google and other tech companies are waging to stifle fake news The impact of fake news on how companies share and tell their stories and what this means for the communications industry The challenges and opportunities this era of distrust creates for credible news outlets and reporters

*see appendix for full list of panelists

RESULTS

During the panel conversation, #FakeNewsSF, our designated hashtag for the event, emerged as a trending topic on Twitter. We clearly struck a chord with attendees as well as an online audience that reached well beyond Silicon Valley. #FakeNewsSF Trending Topic Great event last night, that was probably one of the better media panels I've seen in recent memory. Obviously, there's a lot of passion around the topic and I felt that the underlining message that media are more relevant than ever was encouraging. - Director of Corporate Comms, Capriza

RESULTS

The impact? A global series of intimate, engrossing discussions between industry experts and in-person and online audience members. To further amplify these conversations, LEWIS: Secured earned feature stories with top-tier news outlets Shared post-event recaps through blog posts and social media Conducted market research on the topic, resulting in an industry white paper that has been widely shared among online audiences and via media outlets Further established the agency as a thought leader in the communications industry BY THE NUMBERS 7 cities hosted events 350+ U.S. and international attendees 25 top-tier journalists ~2.5 million social impressions with at least three events trending on Twitter

RESULTS

Press Coverage U.S. News & World Report | Fake News, Real Impact AXIOS | The Tech Press Talks Fake News Bulldog Reporter | Fake News' Drastic Impact on Media Credibility PRmoment | How Fake News Damages Brands Marketingfacts | Why Media Attacks Pose a Serious Threat

LEWIS Content Surviving in a Post-Truth World Do Media Attacks Go Beyond Journalism? LEWIS 360 Newsletter Feature Underestimating Fake News in the Netherlands Fighting Fake News Managing Reputation in a Hyper-Connected World #FakeNewsSF

#FakeNewsBoston

White Paper:

*Click hyperlinked icons for more detail

APPENDIX: Complete Panelist List Amsterdam: Pieter van Erven Dorens - Editor at the Financiële Telegraaf Servaas van der Laan - Business Editor at Elsevier Alexander Pleijter - Researcher and Professor Online Journalism at the University Leiden and Coordinator of the DeNieuweReporter.nl and NieuweJournalistiek.nl Sonja de Vries - IT and Communications Specialist at ilionx

Boston Lylah M. Alphonse - Managing editor of news for U.S. News & World Report Laura Hazard Owen - Deputy editor for Nieman Journalism Lab and Nieman Foundation at Harvard University Evan Horowitz - Policy writer and columnist of the “Quick Study” column for Boston Globe Dan Kennedy - Associate professor at Northeastern University and nationally known media commentator who writes for WGBHNews.org, the Nieman Journalism Lab and other publications

London Nick Chiarelli - Director of Research and Analytics at Foresight Factory Dan Masser - Head of Corporate at LEWIS Matt Davies - EMEA Head of Marketing at Splunk Sam Ahuja - Senior Associate at Schillings International Kristie Perrotte - Director of PR and Communications Europe/Middle East at Robert Half

New York City Phillip Rosenstein - Politics editor for MediaPost Charlie Warzel - Senior writer for BuzzFeed News covering the intersection of tech and culture Charlotte Alter - Reporter covering politics and society for TIME Helen A.S. Popkin - Deputy tech editor at Forbes Mona Chalabi - Data editor for Guardian US and columnist of "Just the Facts," a weekly column that explores fake newsParis: Serge-Henri Saint-Michel - Editor of the e-magazine Professional Marketing and Strategic Planner for SME Marketing Christian Makarian - Editor-in-Chief of L'Express , in charge of international affairs Johan Weisz-Myara - Founder of StreetPress , The Urban Magazine

San Francisco Jessica Lessin - Founder and editor-in-chief at The Information Matt Rosoff - Editorial director at CNBC Alex Kantrowitz - Senior technology reporter at BuzzFeed News Jon Swartz - San Francisco bureau chief at USA Today Katie Benner - Technology reporter at New York Times

Washington D.C.: Brooke Van Dam – Associate director and faculty director of MPS in Journalism at Georgetown University Lauren Gambino – National reporter for Guardian US Sara Fischer – Media reporter for Axios Molly Ball – Staff writer covering U.S. politics for The Atlantic

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The proliferation of fake news has the potential to impact the communications world. If the practice of PR is going to survive, good journalism must thrive. Our job as communications professionals is to continue to support credible media by examining our contributions to the stories they tell, being more accountable than ever before about the work we do on behalf of our clients, and always being ethical and transparent. - Miles Daniels, VP, Media Strategy at LEWIS