I don't know if you've ever been the subject of press speculation or ever been doorstepped by a journalist; I have and I can tell you, no matter what you say to them, they will write what they want.
There is an old saying that there are three sides to every story; your side, their side and the truth.
The press, though, have a particular liking for story bias.
That is that they take a particular stance on something and then they find the facts to fit their story.
It happens all the time and the recent Scottish referendum debate was full of examples.
It's also the time of year (pre-Christmas) when stories in the form of Biographies come out and hit the bookshelves.
I'm really interested in Biographies; I have lots of them. Mostly about business leaders.
But the ones mostly read are the popular ones. The winners. The ones that "made it" in life or business or sport and romp up the bestsellers lists.
Behind the ones that made it, there are hundreds who didn't; their books will never sell. Behind them are hundreds more who can't find a publisher. Behind them, there are yet thousands more people with half-written manuscripts languishing on a hard drive or sitting on a shelf. And then there are the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dreamers who will get around to it when they have the time.
A lot of the time history is written by the victors. The successful Biography is usually one that shows hardship and overcoming obstacles and difficulties and that somehow their life followed a pattern and has meaning. They look back and join the dots and it was all meant to be to get to this point in time.
The reality is that it's never like that. All of life is a series of unplanned and unconnected events. The dreamy, hazy memories that contributed to the story nearly always leave out important parts.
Next time you read a Biography or hear a story you need to ask yourself, who is the sender of the message or story, what are their intentions, what did they leave out?
Because every time you read a Biography or hear a story, you are actually only getting 33% of the reality.
There is an old saying that there are three sides to every story; your side, their side and the truth.
The press, though, have a particular liking for story bias.
That is that they take a particular stance on something and then they find the facts to fit their story.
It happens all the time and the recent Scottish referendum debate was full of examples.
It's also the time of year (pre-Christmas) when stories in the form of Biographies come out and hit the bookshelves.
I'm really interested in Biographies; I have lots of them. Mostly about business leaders.
But the ones mostly read are the popular ones. The winners. The ones that "made it" in life or business or sport and romp up the bestsellers lists.
Behind the ones that made it, there are hundreds who didn't; their books will never sell. Behind them are hundreds more who can't find a publisher. Behind them, there are yet thousands more people with half-written manuscripts languishing on a hard drive or sitting on a shelf. And then there are the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dreamers who will get around to it when they have the time.
A lot of the time history is written by the victors. The successful Biography is usually one that shows hardship and overcoming obstacles and difficulties and that somehow their life followed a pattern and has meaning. They look back and join the dots and it was all meant to be to get to this point in time.
The reality is that it's never like that. All of life is a series of unplanned and unconnected events. The dreamy, hazy memories that contributed to the story nearly always leave out important parts.
Next time you read a Biography or hear a story you need to ask yourself, who is the sender of the message or story, what are their intentions, what did they leave out?
Because every time you read a Biography or hear a story, you are actually only getting 33% of the reality.
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