Plenty for news organisations to think about in this piece looking at how misinformation can be spread online, in particular developing a strategy for dealing with ‘viral’ rumours:
“Having decided that a rumour can’t go unchallenged, a company needs to set out its terms of engagement.”
These situations provide further impetus for news organisations to establish a loyal following for its online brand – for instance, a third-party rebuttal of a rumour is stronger than a denial by the brand itself, argues the article.
Central to all strategies for handling the spread of misinformation about your organisation online, however, seems to be active participation in conversations about your brand (which in turn means carefull use and monitoring of social media and online forums).