Newington's Muniya Barua examines the rise of the 'post-truth' era during 2016 and its lessons for comms professionals in 2017.

2016 was the year when a new word entered the political lexicon: “post-truth” was declared international word of year by Oxford Dictionaries. It followed a 2,000% increase in its use after two seismic political events on opposite sides of the Pond: Brexit and Trump.

Both events had a profound influence on the nature of political campaigning, the role of the media, and have lessons for comms professionals.

In the UK, the referendum campaign saw unsubstantiated claims made by both sides – from Leave’s use of the £350 million figure that would go to the NHS to the various figures bandied around by Remainers on the potential economic costs of leaving the EU. When Leave campaigner Michael Gove said: “People in this country have had enough of experts,” he coined one of the most memorable soundbites of the campaign, one which epitomises the post-truth era.

Trump took this to a whole new level, with a number of false statements on jobs, crime, immigration, and terrorism, including some outright lies, including accusing Barack Obama of being the founder of ISIS. So much so that USA Today crowned him “king of the whoppers” for the second consecutive year.

Much of these claims and counter-claims on both sides of the Atlantic blended into white noise for a public, largely consuming its news in a social media bubble.

As Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries, said as he explained the post-truth era: “it was fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment.”

This shifting media landscape was highlighted in a study for the University of Oxford in June 2016, which revealed social media had outstripped TV as the main news source for young people, and particularly women. Facebook, followed by YouTube and Twitter, came out as the top sources of news.

Facebook in particular has played a key role in the post-truth era, amid claims it has proliferated fake news and that its algorithms distort the news agenda – its internal investigation found no evidence of bias and it has recently announced steps to reduce fake news.

So what lessons does 2016 have for 2017 for comms professionals and campaigners?

It’s important to remember that much of the content shared on social media platforms is the online content of newspapers and news websites, so traditional media is still an important element in any comms strategy.

But increasingly firms will need to ramp up their digital strategy as part of an integrated comms approach. And that’s particularly true if the goal of your business is to reach young people and women.

Finally, the speed at which stories break and proliferate on social media also requires comms teams to ensure they are actively monitoring digital channels, including blogs – and where appropriate to rebut incorrect stories about their company or brand. Look no further than Skittles’ response to Donald Trump for a masterclass in how to manage a social media crisis. As for post-truth, facts are still important, but campaigns need to win hearts, and not just minds.

Newington offers a full range of corporate affairs services, including support in developing integrated media strategies; digital communications; media and social media monitoring; and crisis and reputation management. For more information, please contact Muniya Barua, Director of Corporate Affairs.