Disinformation usage in corporate communications: CI'ers beware

All CI practitioners are leery of being victims of disinformation. Yet, disinformation is one of the many devices commonly used in corporate communications strategies. This article discusses various types of disinformation tactics and why CI professionals should be aware of such usage. Outright lying, for example, is perhaps the most disturbing form of disinformation, but it is also the most easily confronted. Statements also may be true in meaning, but falsified by exaggeration, understatement, or facetiousness. CI professionals should be sensitive to the passive component of disinformation in which one, usually through silence or non‐reaction, creates a high‐potential for influenced interpretation. Finally, any company planning to use disinformation within a communications campaign should consider the risks involved, from legal liability issues to having one's own customers fall prey to the intended false conclusions, and one's own employees mired in confusion. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.