Answer the following on your own experience.

Practical Exercise #3 Rumors Points: 25 The nature of rumors: A rumor is any statement that is unproven and is being circulated. Rumors are spread because they are an interesting diversion and because they serve as news (particularly in times with little actual news or in times of high anxiety when people want to know what's going on). Rumors can also be spread if they confirm someone's suspicions or feelings about a person or group. How to combat a rumor: Strategy one: Ignore the rumor. This has the benefit of not risking calling attention to the rumor, which could potentially make it worse or spread the rumor further. Strategy two: Locally combat the rumor with pamphlets and information only in areas or populations that have asked about or mentioned the rumor. Strategy three: Combat the rumor discreetly. Without mentioning the rumor, emphasize the opposite of the rumor (if the rumor is worms in the hamburgers, launch an advertising campaign emphasizing the 100% ground beef hamburgers). Strategy four: Go all out: press conferences, newspapers, spokespeople, lots of information delivered to lots of people immediately. Example: A rumor that was widely circulated was that owner of Proctor & Gamble had come on to the Phil Donahue show and announced that he was a Satanist, had sold his soul to Satan in exchange for business success, and donated a significant portion of profits to the Church of Satan. The rumor claimed that the 13 stars on the Proctor & Gamble logo were symbols of Satan and could be connected to form "666." Proctor & Gamble say that the 13 stars are for the 13 original colonies. At first the company did not want to publicly enounce the rumor for fear that the mention of the rumor would make it bigger. At first, while sales representatives answered accusations and people were hired to answer the phone calls from concerned customers, the rumor was mainly ignored by the company. However, the rumor kept spreading and was costing Proctor and Gamble business. Finally, the company launched an all-out offensive including a press conference and other denials to the media, mass mailings to churches, and filing lawsuits against any people identified as spreading the rumor (which was often settled by public apologies for spreading false information). This largely quenched the rumor; however, it did resurface several more times to a lesser degree. Assignment: You are the President of Northwestern State University. A rumor has been circulating that Northwestern is going to close before the end of the semester due to a lack of funding. This rumor states that all students currently enrolled will lose all credits and that student loans will come due instantly. How do you handle it