GCRI · Campaigns
Campaign governance
Public-interest campaigns are funded, framed and delivered by organisations with interests of their own: ministries, companies, foundations, advocacy groups. Campaign governance is the set of rules that keeps a campaign’s claims honest and its sponsors visible: disclosure of funding, separation of editorial judgement from sponsor wishes, evidence behind every public claim, and correction when claims are wrong. This page sets out how sponsor influence and inflated claims develop, how they are detected, and which bodies hold the decisions.
Campaign governance in seven parts.
- 01The questionCampaign governance: how the risk develops
- 02In the five domainsCampaign governance keeps claims honest in every domain
- 03IndicatorsWhat is measured, and how well
- 04SourcesWhere the evidence comes from
- 05DecisionsWho decides, and what the evidence serves
- 06Core questionsWhat experts ask
- 07MechanismsWhat drives the outcome
Campaign governance: how the risk develops.
Sponsor neutrality and public claims. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Sponsors shape framing
Funding rarely dictates a message directly. Influence works through the choice of topic, emphasis, omission and which experts are invited. A campaign funded by a party with a stake in the issue can be accurate in every sentence and still mislead through what it leaves out.
Claims inflate along the chain
A modest evaluation finding becomes a confident claim in a report, a headline in a press release and a slogan in a funding bid. Each step drops caveats. Without a rule that public claims cite their evidence, the inflation goes unchecked.
Public voice can be captured
Government campaigns can drift into partisan promotion, especially near elections, and commercial or advocacy campaigns can present themselves as neutral public information. Undisclosed sponsorship and astroturfing borrow the credibility of independent voices.
Credibility is a shared resource
When one campaign is exposed as misleading, trust in other public messages on the same subject falls with it. Health and climate communication still carry the cost of earlier campaigns that overstated certainty or hid their sponsors.
People and hazards in South Asia.
Population density, night lights and flood water over South Asia, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
People and hazards, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2) (NASA LAADS DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LAADS DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite radiance, corrected for moonlight and atmosphere
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite night-time radiance for the date shown; lights are a proxy for electricity use and outages, not a measurement of supply or access.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS Global Flood Product (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Terra EVI (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite index; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite vegetation index for the 8 days to the date shown, a habitat condition indicator; not a measure of species or biodiversity.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
People and hazards, framed on South Asia.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Optional layers (5 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
Campaign governance keeps claims honest in every domain.
- HealthIn practiceHealth claims must follow the evidence and the competent authority.What a reader can checkSource for each claim
- BiodiversityIn practiceNature claims must avoid overstating benefits.What a reader can checkClaim review records
- EnergyIn practiceEnergy saving claims need measured evidence.What a reader can checkMeasured savings
Governance records follow the verification practice of NS-11 in the proposed Nexus Standards. The UN Global Principles for Information Integrity (2024) frame honest public communication.
- Reports of misleading claims.
- Reviewer volunteers.
Campaign wave tracker.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Campaign wave tracker
Campaign governance · Wave 3 · Campaign area North
- People reached791016Active
- Consent complete, % of participants95Normal
- Knowledge score change1.4pointsNormal
- Open feedback items7Watch
Preparedness actions by area
Messages under test
| Prepare a water reserve | A | 55 | Keep |
| Know your warning levels | B | 26 | Revise |
| Check on neighbours | A | 73 | Keep |
Safeguarding and consent
- S-1Minor enrolled without guardian recordPause and verify2 d
- S-2Withdrawal requestData deleted, logged4 d
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funding disclosure completeness | required disclosure items published, of items required | per campaign | Disclosure audit | DECLARED |
| Public claims with cited evidence | proportion of claims linking to a source | per release | Claim review | OBSERVED |
| Conflict of interest declarations | declarations filed, of declarations required | per campaign | Declaration register | DECLARED |
| Corrections issued | count and median days to correction | quarterly | Correction log | REPORTED |
| Advertising complaints upheld | rulings per year, by sector | annual | Advertising standards authority rulings | Published statistics |
| Political and issue advertising spend | currency range per period, by advertiser | weekly | Platform ad libraries | REPORTED |
| Independent review recommendations closed | items closed, of items raised | per review | Review records | REPORTED |
Stocks, flows, delays and a tipping threshold.
Two stocks, pressure and adaptive capacity, joined by a reinforcing growth loop, a delayed balancing response and damage when pressure outruns capacity; past the threshold the system can tip. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction. The map on this page shows South Asia; the model itself is not tied to a place.
Controls
- Growth of pressure
- 6.0% a year
- Efficacy of capacity in reducing pressure
- 4.0% a year
- Investment response to perceived pressure
- 20%
- Perception delay
- 4.0 years
- Tipping threshold of pressure
- 60 index
- Amplification past the threshold
- 2.0 times
- Years simulated
- 50 years
Readouts
- Peak pressure
- 113 index
- Capacity at the end
- 186 index
- Years over the threshold
- 15.8 years
Numbers, methods and sources
| Year | Pressure | Capacity | Perceived |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 20.0 | 50.0 | 20.0 |
| 4 | 23.3 | 44.9 | 21.2 |
| 8 | 27.2 | 42.2 | 24.0 |
| 12 | 31.7 | 42.3 | 27.7 |
| 16 | 36.8 | 45.5 | 32.2 |
| 20 | 42.3 | 51.5 | 37.2 |
| 24 | 47.9 | 60.3 | 42.6 |
| 28 | 53.2 | 71.3 | 48.0 |
| 32 | 57.8 | 84.3 | 53.1 |
| 36 | 66.4 | 98.4 | 58.4 |
| 40 | 82.7 | 115.9 | 69.7 |
| 44 | 97.8 | 139.7 | 83.8 |
| 48 | 109.1 | 169.4 | 97.3 |
Methods
- System dynamics Forrester (1961), Industrial Dynamics, MIT Press; Sterman (2000), Business Dynamics
- Critical transitions and tipping points Scheffer and others (2009), Early-warning signals for critical transitions, Nature 461
- Causal loop diagram Sterman (2000), Business Dynamics, McGraw-Hill
- Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
- One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley
Data
No observed data enters this model: it runs on the teaching values set by the controls, to be replaced with a programme’s own evidence.
Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium
- Experiments Labs
- Built in Campaigns in Foundry
- Tested at Campaigns in Universe
- Codified in Governance, Security and Society in Standards
- Published in Campaigns in Reports
- Taught in Faculty of Governance, Policy and International Affairs in Academy
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement repositories of very large online platforms (EU Digital Services Act, Article 39) | Political and issue advertising with spend ranges, funders and targeting where disclosed | Platform terms; API access after verification |
| Political advertising transparency records (Regulation (EU) 2024/900) and national election authorities’ registers | Sponsor identity and political advertising where the rules apply | Public records, terms per authority |
| EU Digital Services Act Transparency Database | Statements of reasons for content moderation decisions by online platforms | Free reuse |
| Advertising Standards Authority rulings (United Kingdom) | Published rulings on misleading, harmful and undisclosed advertising | Free to read; reuse per terms |
| EU Transparency Register | Organisations seeking to influence EU policy, with declared interests and budgets | Free reuse with attribution |
| Electoral Commission finance registers (United Kingdom) | Donations, loans and campaign spending by parties and third-party campaigners | Open Government Licence |
| IATI Registry | Published funding flows of development and humanitarian organisations | Open licence per publisher |
Model campaign governance as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Information integrity and trust: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Civil unrest
- Ice-jam flood
- Tropical cyclone
- Heatwave
- HIV epidemic
- Dam failure
- Storm surge (set off downstream)
- Intense rainfall (set off downstream)
- River flood (set off downstream)
- Flash flood (set off downstream)
- Dangerous surf (set off downstream)
- Widespread power outage (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
- Coastal flood (set off downstream)
- Extreme fire weather (set off downstream)
- Wildfire (set off downstream)
- Heat-driven grid stress (set off downstream)
- Agricultural drought (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-2Citation and attribution format for UNIsNS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NS-12Software, model and AI/ML artefacts (supply chain, model cards, dataset sheets)NRS-H52Hazard family: Information-integrity attacks (NHS-1 cyber.integrity)NRS-X7Information integrity and public trustNRS-U23Universe platform profile: ReportsNRS-A4Zero-trust verification of standards and conformanceNRS-H65Hazard family: Planetary boundary transgressions (NHS-1 planet.boundary)NRS-H72Hazard family: Novel entities and emerging contaminants (NHS-1 poll.novel-entities)
Observation
- GDELT event database and global knowledge graph (listed for reference)
- Our World in Data datasets (listed for reference)
- Number of countries that adopt and implement guarantees for public access to information
Example geography
- The Horn of Africa: 253 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Surface air temperature, daytime (AIRS), NASA GIBS
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Campaigns prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Government communication units and cabinet offices | Whether a campaign is public information or promotion, and how pre-election restrictions apply | Claim registers; disclosure records; the relevant civil service code |
| Advertising standards bodies | Whether a campaign is misleading or fails to disclose its sponsor | Claim evidence; disclosure records; complaint files |
| Electoral management bodies | Whether third-party campaigning counts as regulated spending and whether imprints are present | Ad library records; finance registers; imprint audits |
| Editors and publishers | Whether to accept sponsored content and how to label it | Sponsor disclosure; editorial independence agreements |
| Funders and foundations | Which independence terms to set in grant agreements | Governance guides; correction and review records |
Outputs this topic produces
- Sponsor and funding disclosures published with each campaign
- Claim registers linking every public claim to its evidence and evidence label
- Correction records stating what changed and why
- Governance guides on editorial independence from sponsors
How campaign governance is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
System model
The couplings between the systems in campaign governance: signs of influence, a reinforcing and a balancing loop, and cross-links where stress jumps.
What experts ask.
- 01
Who controls the message?
How editorial independence is kept when a campaign has funders, hosts or delivery partners.
- 02
Which claims are allowed?
Which statements need a source, which need a reviewed record and which cannot be made at all.
- 03
Who may be named?
When an institution, community or person may appear, and on what written basis.
- 04
Who answers for errors?
How a named manager and the publisher take responsibility for corrections.
What drives the outcome.
Sponsorship creates pressure, even when unspoken. A funder may hope for a favourable mention or a softer finding; a host may expect its logo next to a message. Research on public trust shows that undisclosed influence, once discovered, damages the credibility of the message and of the messenger.
Implied affiliation is a quieter risk. Naming an agency, showing a logo or describing an audience as partners can suggest endorsement or authority that does not exist. In a crisis, campaign material that resembles an authority notice can be mistaken for one.
Claims carry legal and ethical weight. Figures, rankings and statements of effect mislead when they lack a source, a date or a stated method. Governance rules require every public claim to be traceable and correctable.
How evidence is gathered, and where it stops.
| Method | What it shows | Its limit |
|---|---|---|
| Disclosure register | Who funded or supported a campaign | Shows relationships, not their influence |
| Claims review | Whether each statement has a source | Depends on reviewer diligence |
| Permission records | Written consent to name an institution | Permissions expire and must be renewed |
| Correction log | What changed and why | Only as complete as reporting allows |
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
What is sponsor neutrality?
Why must every public claim cite evidence?
What happens when a claim is wrong?
Who regulates misleading campaigns?
Can a funder see campaign material before it is published?
Why are some institutions not named even when they took part?
How do I raise a concern about a campaign?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
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- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
Bring a method, a dataset or a question.
Information and enquiries are open today. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.
Legal documents.
Maps, data and figures on this site are shown for context and general information. They are not advice, forecasts or warnings; the limits of the information are set out in the Disclaimers and Data Notices.