What can be done?

One way to fight back against hyperbole is to focus on showing instead of telling.

“My guidance to anybody: Don’t make a claim; substantiate one,” said D’Angelo, who worked in the public relations field for 30 years before becoming an academic. “If you’re saying we have a revolutionary chip, wouldn’t it be better to say we’ve just introduced a new chip that’s 80% faster than anything else on the market?”

Another approach is to champion a culture that acknowledges colleagues are professionals and owe it to one another to speak openly. Don’t let jargon and buzzwords flourish in the workplace.

“Look, we’re all humans here—let’s just talk to each other plainly,” said Mark Weinstein, chief marketing officer of Hilton. “You won’t like what I have to say sometimes, but I can promise you understand what I’m saying.”

Yet another method, though difficult, is to refuse to publish a news announcement if there’s no news to share. About one in 10 PR professionals say their biggest challenge with writing a press release is not having enough newsworthy content to work with.

As D’Angelo put it: “It’s important for PR people to do a clinical assessment of news value before they send something out, because there is so much garbage out there.”

—Robert Klara contributed to this article.