Setting the record straight on land reform

The institute had spent three years researching land restitution in rural Colombia. When its report came out, a handful of outlets in Colombia, Spain and the US reported it as a call to confiscate private farms. It wasn't. Within a week the distortion was the story, researchers were receiving threats and funders were asking questions.

We started with the evidence, not the outrage. We built a short, sourced rebuttal and took it privately to the editors who had got it wrong, asking for corrections rather than picking public fights.

At the same time, we offered the institute's director to correspondents who cover land and conflict seriously, in English and Spanish. We produced a two-minute animated explainer that set out what the report actually proposed, and ran it across social channels in both languages with targeted promotion to journalists, academics and policymakers.

Three outlets published corrections or clarifications. The director gave 11 interviews to international media, including broadcast. The explainer passed 2.4 million views and was cited in a Colombian Senate debate. Two funders renewed their grants the following year.