‘Fake news’, yellow journalism, misinformation, disinformation, call it what you will, is hardly new. And as PT Barnum and others would attest, it can be hugely powerful.

The internet, social media, the deep and dark webs. mobile and other technologies enable bad actors of various types to develop highly sophisticated negative information and news programmes that travel faster, further and are far harder to manage.  

Charlie Pownall’s first job involved defending the EU from the many ‘euromyths’ then circulating. He has since spent countless hours countering negative information and news operations on behalf of his clients, a number of which are household names.

In this frank and revealing talk Charlie draws on his own experiences and examines other recent examples to examine different kinds of negative information operations and campaigns and sets out the strategies, tools and techniques to tackle them.

He will also explore some of the similarities and differences in handling mis- and dis-information in the west and in Asia-Pacific, where much of his work has been and continues to be focused.