An apparently reputable business publication set the blogosphere abuzz recently with the report that a very prominent tech company was planning to make its play in the mobile payments arena. Other media outlets picked up the report and blogs were lit by the fuse of speculation.
The rumors coming out of this tech company are probably true to some degree. However, the source of the insider information on which the apparently reputable business publication based its report is suspect in my view. You would think this consultant with all this juicy information was vetted by the apparently reputable business publication. But who knows these days.
So I researched the consultancy. I can't get to the website. There's always a problem loading the page. I found the consultancy's phone number and called it up. The receptionist said the consultant was on the other line. I asked if I could have the consultant's voicemail. The receptionist said she would take a message. (No voicemail?) When she took my message, I had the impression she wasn't actually writing anything it down. When I said thanks, she muttered something and hung up. (Maybe she's a temp, or his wife.)
I did a little research on the consultant. He seems to have a decent background, is reportedly an expert resource for media outlets. But, on the other hand, he has a crappy website, a lousy receptionist, and no voicemail.
So I am left to wonder about the factuality of his insider knowledge about future product roll-outs by this tech company, and yet one media report using this guy as the source got the whole tech world hyperventilating. It just proves how easily led we still are.
If a Big Lie comes wrapped in the mantle of authority projected by an apparently reputable business publication, will we have the wisdom to at least take a second look at it before broadcasting it like mindless parrots across the world?
I doubt it.
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