What to Engage?

The second W in the Rules of Engagement

What will you engage? This is an area of great variation. Some advise challenging everything. Others consider acknowledging something exists on the internet as giving credence to all rumors. My rule of thumb is when factual errors exist that are significant it is the responsibility of the public information officer to step in and correct those errors. The added benefit is when factual errors are embedded in opinions that are driving misperceptions about the situation. This will undercut the opinion without directly attacking it, and it reinforces the authority of the spokesman.