University of Oxford
Developing fresh angles on an annual news story
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) is a hub for intellectual collaboration and cross-disciplinary research and engagement at the University of Oxford.
“Thank you so much for your work and insights, which have created so much coverage for April Fakes Day and the great research Patricia Kingori has been doing. It is a really impressive range and spread of media and has helped promote the exhibitions, workshops and projects immensely.”
John Kennedy, Communications Officer, TORCH, University of Oxford
The brief
Led by TORCH, April Fakes Day is a pan-museum initiative on 1st April to discuss the complexities of identifying and working with fakes and fabrications in museums and galleries.
The project is an outreach programme for Professor Patricia Kingori's Wellcome-funded research, which explore fakes, fabrications and falsehoods in different domains. The initiative examines what ‘fake’ really means, and who gets to decide.
TORCH wanted to showcase the programme of April Fakes Day events and activities taking place in museums and galleries across Oxford and London, and turned to Campus PR to help.
Our response
We worked closely with the team at TORCH and Professor Patricia Kingori to understand the research that inspired April Fakes Day, drawing out key messages to develop a fresh angle on the typical media coverage of April Fools’ Day.
Working at pace due to the short lead time, we developed a press release about the range of museum exhibits on display, and pitched a discussion piece to national media about misinformation and fake news, challenging the public to consider the skills needed to assess authenticity in both the online and offline worlds.
The results
We achieved national and local broadcast coverage for April Fakes Day, with Professor Patricia Kingori interviewed live about her research and the initiative on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, BBC News, BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast and BBC Radio Oxfordshire.
Patricia also participated in a broader discussion about April Fools’ Day on BBC Radio 5’s Naga Munchetty programme, and the story was covered in the Oxford Mail.