It is a well known fact

Most of the ‘facts’ that we use to form our opinions come from the media and ideas and opinions of our friends and acquaintances.

Something that has always worried me is that whenever I have known the truth of a news story and have read how it is reported it has always been incorrect. Most of the time this has not been an intentional misrepresentation of the facts just incompetence on the part of the journalist and their editor.

The other thing that has worried me is the way that ‘facts’ quoted in the media and marketing press, especially when they are often repeated, soon become accepted as absolutely true.

Unfortunately most of marketing decisions are based on these ‘well known facts’. When you try and find substantiating evidence you are sorely disappointed. More likely you find that the ‘fact’ is not really a ‘fact’ but a strongly held opinion, or an idea that somebody has plucked out of the air. In the age of government and corporate spin you also find a lot of intentional exaggeration and misrepresentation.

Did you know that if only us (Brits) would turn-off our electronic gadgets rather than leaving them on standby and power charge we could save 10% of the country’s energy bill? Well one of our best journalists thought this seemed a bit on the high side and decided to track down the source of the ‘fact’. Please read. Dick Stroud