The media landscape has changed, and new players are imposing new strategies on communicators. Shifts in the political environment as well as new technologies are driving this evolution. Meanwhile, a major implication for communications professionals is that their role is widening and becoming far more strategic. Beyond shaping messages for mainstream media, they are obliged to monitor a growing number of actors who possess their own media outlets, and to devise effective channels of dialogue that lead to shared solutions. Meanwhile, a “fake news” industry that respects neither the norms of journalistic discourse, nor minimal professional standards of veracity, increasingly targets businesses.
The expected outcomes of this course include a deep tool kit as well as principles that can guide communicators in their quest to protect and extend reputations, within and outside their organisations. A key assumption is that in our era, communication is a concern of the entire organisation. In other words, it is not enough that leaders be communicators; other internal stakeholders also express its mission and values.
We ask for your help in making the class sessions a journey that includes surprise and discovery. In many of the cases we will use as the basis for group work, subsequent scholarly publications revealed outcomes and insights deliberately excluded from the teaching cases. The precise purpose of using cases is to transmit not only knowledge, but experience, particularly in cases focused on crises. Thus, we sometimes ask that you do no further research on a case or text beyond what is specified in class reading assignments. In that way you will face decision points armed only with the information available to company leaders and communicators portrayed in the cases. The resulting emotions will powerfully reinforce your intellectual insights.
The ways that media impact reputation have grown more diverse in recent years, and the power of those impacts can be unprecedented. Stakeholder-driven media, owned by activists or partisan groups, demonstrated their clout in the US by helping Donald Trump to become President. So did fake news media, a demonstrated threat to leaders like Hillary Clinton or Emmanuel Macron. Firms now have a multitude of channels to communicate directly with stakeholders, yet few are using them well. In this Masterclass we will consider these phenomena from the standpoint of best practices, while keeping in sight an underlying transformation of the communications function, from service to strategic.
This course is for communications professionals who seek new concepts and tools for media and stakeholder engagement and management, and in particular those who understand the growing strategic importance of organisational communication.
The contents of this course are highly useful for every communication professionals across all industries. The theories, tools, frameworks, the timeline and the stakeholder maps are immediately applicable for my daily work. Mark is an experienced teacher who is always in contact with the class.
Karen Loos-Gelijns – Senior Staff Officer International Operations – Ministry of Defense
Mark Lee Hunter is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the INSEAD Social Innovation Centre, where he is a founding member of the Stakeholder Media Project. Hunter has written well over 100 investigative features and nine books, which earned him IRE, SDX, National Headliners, H.L. Mencken and Clarion Awards.
Additional speakers will be added soon
15-17 April 2024
9.00-17.00
The total costs for participation in the Navigating the Stakeholder Media Landscape course are €3,400.
The programme takes place in the Bayle building on the Woudestein Campus of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Our general terms and conditions apply when you register for an open programme. Please review them to learn more about our policies for cancellation, deferral and substitution.
The participant can be substituted by someone from the same organisation on the same course without extra costs.
This course can also be taken as part of RSM's part-time Executive Master in Corporate Communication, a flexible and accredited master programme for professionals.
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