In the middle of the raging sea of any political campaign, a cursed wave can emerge capable of demolishing everything that has been built. This is Fake News, a resource that is becoming more and more common in today’s campaigns and that simply represents one of the biggest problems to which any candidacy can be exposed today.
Countering false information is exhausting work. However, lately, politics and consulting have taken on the challenge of unmasking it and turning the attacks of false news into a strategic opportunity to retake the leadership of the discussion. Is this possible? Let’s see.
The first step is to make visible the entire process that involves making false news. A key point to understand why false news is so dangerous is to understand that almost all of it has a component that the unsuspecting public can immediately associate with a fact of reality. Later, we already know: what does not seduce, does not entertain. But what entertains can also destroy.
Tell me who you vote for and I’ll tell you what lie you believe. In our days, the most radicalized societies in political terms need to forcefully validate their perspective, their position in the world, their path. Thus, they only validate what legitimizes their position.
And the role of journalism? Fake news can be born through channels that are not necessarily associated with traditional media. But precisely for this reason the most recognized media must be on their guard and mount alerts.
All in all, once we get to the moment where we start converting false news into an opportunity to come out stronger, the first thing to be clear about is that we must be as creative, disruptive and forceful as possible to access new tools and resources that give us the opportunity to once again lead the public debate.
It is important to understand, from the beginning, that perception will always win out over reality itself. Otherwise, if the politician and the consulting team do not know how to install that feeling in the audience, they will be left with their own truth… and with the entire crisis on their backs and unresolved.
In short, the best response against Fake News is made up of the ability to know how to tell, disruptively and creatively, a solid story from strong leadership. That is the narrative that will allow us to block the lie and continue, step by step, complying with the guidelines of the campaign.
*Political Matrix, the new book by @divoskus *
by CEDOC