From Hoax as Crisis to Crisis as Hoax: Fake News and Information Disorder as Disruptions to the Discourse of Renewal

Authors

  • Timothy L. Sellnow Nicholson School of Communication and Media, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA Author
  • Adam Parrish Nicholson School of Communication and Media, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA Author
  • Lauren Semenas Nicholson School of Communication and Media, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA Author

Keywords:

Crisis communication; risk communication; hoax; disinformation; fake news; crisis actor

Abstract

Hoaxes have long been a reputational threat to organizations. For example, false claims that syringes had been found in bottles of Pepsi-Cola products, that a portion of a fi nger had been found in Wendy’s chili, and that Domino’s employees had intentionally served contaminated food to customers have topped the media’s agenda. More recently, the hoax phenomenon has been tactically reversed. Heavily traffi cked Internet sites and controversial television personalities frequently argue that well-documented crises themselves are hoaxes. The potential for claims of crisis as hoax to disrupt the discourse of crisis renewal is examined through an analysis of three cases. We argue that overcoming such disruptions requires corporate social responsibility, a focus on the issues rather than the hoaxers, and continued eff orts to improve media literacy for all audiences.

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Published

2019-03-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

From Hoax as Crisis to Crisis as Hoax: Fake News and Information Disorder as Disruptions to the Discourse of Renewal. (2019). Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research, 2(1). https://jicrcr.org/index.php/jicrcr/article/view/30

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