The Demise of Truth?

A couple of years ago, in his My Three Cents blog, PR guru Ken Makovsky wrote about the concept of “truthiness,” a word coined by the Stephen Colbert, host of the Comedy Channel’s Colbert Report. Truthiness is believing what you feel or wish were true, without reference to logic, evidence or facts.

There’s new book out called True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society, by Salon.com staff writer Farhad Manjoo. In it, he explores the idea — well supported by cognitive scientists— that when the facts don't fit a person’s frame of reference, the frame stays and the facts are ignored.

Manjoo cites a study by Stanford professor Shanto Iyengar and Washington Post columnist Richard Morin who tested Republicans and Democrats’ reactions to a list of headlines covering topics ranging from politics and race to travel and sports. The headlines were randomly paired with one of four logos: BBC, CNN, Fox and NPR. Not only did the Fox logo triple Republicans’ interest in stories about politics and Iraq, it even increased Republicans' interest (and decreased Democrats' interest!) in headlines about travel and sports.

The rise of the internet and the disintermediation of the mainstream media were supposed to help us get to the truth faster than ever before. But when people choose to read only the news that supports their ingrained prejudices, those of us who are responsible for public relations and brand management must recognize that we are facing a bigger challenge than ever before.

The Court Rules in Favor of Wikileaks

Last week, Federal Judge Jeffrey S. White withdrew his earlier order disabling Wikileaks, a website that allows the anonymous posting of documents to discourage unethical behavior in governments and corporations. He’d originally shut down the site at the request of Bank Julius Baer & Company, a Swiss banking company that serves the ultra-rich. They charged that Wikileaks had posted confidential information about some of its customers.

Wikileaks is designed to enable whistleblowers to leak documents, without fear of censorship or the risk of the political repercussions. Its founders contend that Wikileaks will “civilize corporations by exposing uncivil plans and behavior. Just like a country, a corrupt or unethical corporation is a menace to all inside and outside it.”

It’s still in its infancy, but Wikileaks is worth a careful look if you’re at all concerned with the possibility of adverse publicity or if you are involved in issues or crisis management.

Only 6% of corporate frauds are revealed by the SEC and 14% by the auditors, according to the Center for Economic Policy Research. More important monitors are media (14%), industry regulators (16%), and employees (19%).

As it develops, it’s likely that Wikileaks will become a useful source for the mainstream media … so it’s worth keeping it on your radar.