Define the key messages for countering disinformation and hold to them under pressure.
Designing Strategies to Counter False News and Disinformation
A practical programme in countering disinformation for professionals who are accountable for results, not just awareness.
📍 Cairo🗓️ 5 training days📚 4 modules🎓 Accredited certificate
5intensive training days
4scientific modules
8training sessions
32detailed points
Course Overview
Journalists covering countering disinformation are working to a deadline you do not control. Silence during a crisis involving this aspect of communications and media practice is itself a statement. It is designed for mixed groups, so that the wider communications and media practice agenda is examined from more than one functional angle. What blocks progress on countering disinformation is usually unclear ownership rather than unclear intent. Participants gain a realistic view of what the practice within communications and media practice costs and what it returns. Practitioner evidence points the same way: this part of communications and media practice improves fastest where responsibility for it is named and owned. Cases are chosen to expose the trade-offs in countering disinformation rather than to illustrate ideal conditions. It concentrates on the parts of the communications and media practice capability that determine outcomes and treats the rest proportionately. The programme closes with an action plan for this area of communications and media practice that each participant writes for their own organisation.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Coordinate messaging on countering disinformation across markets and languages.
Measure the effect of communication on countering disinformation beyond volume of coverage.
Translate policy on countering disinformation into procedures that hold up under day-to-day pressure.
Present the case for investment in countering disinformation in terms that a finance function will accept.
Prepare spokespeople to handle hostile questioning on countering disinformation.
Communicate the purpose of countering disinformation to those who have to comply with it.
Who Should Attend
Marketing staff coordinating with communications on countering disinformation.
Digital and social media managers handling countering disinformation online.
Officers preparing reports on countering disinformation for boards or oversight committees.
Crisis management team members with a role in countering disinformation.
Internal communications staff explaining countering disinformation to employees.
Consultants and advisers supporting clients on countering disinformation.
Course Modules
Countering disinformation: crisis preparation, roles and authority
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1Measuring communication on countering disinformation beyond clippings
- Write the three key messages on countering disinformation and test them against hard questions.
- Identify single points of dependency in countering disinformation and reduce them.
- Agree the indicators that will show whether countering disinformation is improving.
- Review whether coverage of countering disinformation changed anything that matters.
Session 2Apologising for countering disinformation credibly
- Check that countering disinformation still works when volumes rise unexpectedly.
- Debrief after each significant episode involving countering disinformation.
- Define acceptance criteria for countering disinformation in advance.
- Rehearse the hostile interview on countering disinformation with a real challenger.
Countering disinformation: internal audiences and sequencing
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1The cost of countering disinformation and how to present it
- Verify six months later that changes to countering disinformation have held.
- Define what success in communicating countering disinformation looks like, numerically.
- Record what was learned when countering disinformation did not go as planned.
- Draft the minimum viable communications plan for countering disinformation.
Session 2Moving countering disinformation from approval to execution
- Agree what will be standardised in countering disinformation and what will not.
- Decide in advance when to correct misinformation about countering disinformation and when not to.
- Set escalation thresholds for countering disinformation that work out of hours.
- Name the crisis roles for countering disinformation and confirm authority to speak.
Countering disinformation: spokesperson skill under hostile questioning
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1Making countering disinformation work when resources are constrained
- Prepare the holding statement for countering disinformation in advance.
- Agree who signs off statements on countering disinformation outside working hours.
- Localise messaging on countering disinformation without fragmenting it.
- Confirm that reporting on countering disinformation reaches the people who can act.
Session 2Writing on countering disinformation so a journalist can publish it
- Identify the journalists who actually cover countering disinformation and what they need.
- Define the trigger that would require countering disinformation to be redesigned.
- Configure monitoring that flags coverage of countering disinformation within the hour.
- Check that records of countering disinformation answer the questions likely to be asked.
Countering disinformation: message architecture and discipline
2 sessions · 8 pointsSession 1Building media relationships on countering disinformation before you need them
- Identify the data already collected that bears on countering disinformation.
- Archive every statement issued on countering disinformation with date and approver.
- Sequence internal notification about countering disinformation ahead of external release.
- Plan the recovery sequence after a reputational event involving countering disinformation.
Session 2Coordinating countering disinformation across markets and languages
- Build the internal briefing that explains countering disinformation to those affected.
- Benchmark the organisation's countering disinformation against comparable operations.
- Set the response time target for enquiries about countering disinformation.
- Decide what will be stopped to create capacity for countering disinformation.
Choose the package that suits you
Silver Package
At least 3 people
USD1,250
- Workshop or Program Participation
- Airport Transfers
- Customized Badge
- Expert Mentorship (Private Sessions)
- Supervision & Secretarial Services
- Accredited Certificate of Participation
- Complete Training Kit
- Coffee Break
- Closing Ceremony
Gold Package
At least 3 people
USD1,850
- 5-night stay in a 5-star hotel
- Workshop or Program Participation
- Airport Transfers
- Customized Badge
- Expert Mentorship (Private Sessions)
- Supervision & Secretarial Services
- Accredited Certificate of Participation
- Complete Training Kit
- Coffee Break
- Closing Ceremony
Complete your registration
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