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etain the majority it gained in a previous election. Ifthe situation is already favourable
for the communicator, he may want to "accelerate, intensifY, strengthen, enlarge (or)
improve it" (Mersham and Skinner 1999:51) to make even more favourable, especially
ifthe conditions for the opposition are not as favourable.
If the situation is too favourable the communicator may want to retard, slow
down, cool or weaken like when people are demanding a faster delivery of services
than he can manage. Or a competitor may be too popular, which will make it
unfavourable for the communicator.
RUMOURS
Sometimes a situation may be so undesirable that it needs to be stopped or
destroyed, like when there are negative rumours or reports about an organization or
individual during times of conflict. These rumours can be spread through the radio,
television, newspapers and the Internet. This can be done in three ways i.e. by
determining which rumours are being spread, whether they are true or false and
correcting and replacing them with true information. This is not easy to correct and
there must be a carefully planned counter-attack by providing factual information or
using the endorsement of creditable people. A communicator can even mislead
someone or tempt him or her to act in a way that is discreditable to enhance the
possibility of his or her own success. However, if the communicator's intentions
become public knowledge this may cause the communicator irreparable harm.
Rumour Identification
This can be done by engaging people who are very active in the conflict and are
therefore able to hear the latest rumours. They need to be trained about the negative
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