Efficacy and ethics tradeoff in real world public policy communication

• Florence School of Transnational Governance

The STG Talks, held weekly at Badia Fiesolana and online, serve as a space for discussion for the STG community and beyond. Led by the STG Fellows, the talks are a place for informal learning and exchange on global issues affecting different areas of policymaking.

This STG Talk shall focus on various ethical dilemmas that practitioners of public policy communication face in real world situations. It shall bring real examples where either true information was suppressed, delayed, or modified to achieve policy goals.

Thus, the talk through the opinion of participating experts shall endeavor to bring to light practical scenarios where governments, political parties, social media platforms, political leaders, non-governmental organisations etc., leverage some form of disinformation to further their goals. The talk will also challenge the axiom that all disinformation is bad and aim to spark a debate that there are times and scenarios where disinformation could also become functional.

Finally, assimilating all ideas, the talk shall conclude by suggesting a framework and metrics to guide public policy communication practitioners on leveraging tactical misinformation to achieve strategic objectives and larger goals. 

Speakers:

• Harpreet Dhody, Policy Leader Fellow
• Jakov Bojovic, Research Fellow, Florence School of Transnational Governance
• Janice Butler, Researcher, EUI Department of Political and Social Sciences
• Lisa Ginsborg, Research Fellow, Florence School of Transnational Governance

The event will be held in a hybrid setting. When registering, indicate if you wish to attend the event in person or online. Zoom link will be provided after registration.