Know What You’re Talking About Or Don’t Pass It On

I don’t know how anyone else feels about it, but I am absolutely appalled at what today’s media gets away with. NBC’s censored our Olympics this year. Fox news and an MSNBC are as far from unbiased as you can be and now, in light of one of the worst tragedies we’ve had this year, CNN has joined the mix of those who report news without gathering all the facts. And the reason for it? Ratings. Really?

Prime examples? The media is reporting that the Connecticut shooter had autism and or Aspergers disease. They don’t seem to care that not a single doctor has come forward to say that the boy was ever diagnosed with either. Not to mention the “experts” they’re interviewing are telling them that even if that’s what he had, he’d be LESS likely to hurt someone than you or I! I’ve listened to several reports where as soon as the reporter doesn’t get the answer they wanted for their story, they suddenly have to go and thank the expert for their time.

I’m sure the parents of autistic children are thrilled to have their children’s disease associated with this shooting… as if they don’t spend enough time already working on overcoming the misconceptions that already abound!

Now (and this one is NOT just the media but people in general), they’re treating the mother of the shooter as a criminal rather than a victim. They’re making the assumption that because she left her home for two days, that she was irresponsible. First, for leaving a (yet to be proven) son with problems at home alone and second, they’re assuming that she left her weapons unlocked and accessible.

She may have. But so far the police haven’t said for sure one way or the other whether her weapons accessible or locked away. And even if they were, she is still a victim. We’ve all made mistakes as a parent and, while the end result was more horrific than a trip to the doctor with the broken arm of an unattended child, the woman was murdered by her own son for this mistake which again, we have yet to prove that she made.

And in regards to the “vacation” they’re talking about. They make it sound like she jumped on a plane for the Bahamas with no regard to where her son was. She drove FOUR hours from her home for a TWO day trip… something that neighbors said she’s done before… and without any problem!

I doubt very seriously that she saw this coming any more than anyone else did!

So, that’s what set me off this week to start with. I have NO issues with people who speak their mind about things they know to be true, but you have to know what you’re talking about! So what sparked this post?

Between the media and then the fact that Tiffany Dow mentioned that people were sending her notes that John Chow might not be the most trusted person to follow, it made me start thinking about how we handle our businesses.

When you hear something about a person, or a business, how do you deal with it? Do you take it at face value? Do you go to the source and ask if it’s true? Or do you withhold judgment until you’ve had a chance to interact with that person or business and make a decision for yourself?

I’ve done all three as a person throughout my life. But, since becoming a business owner, I’ve learned how fast people can damage your reputation by simply believing (and then telling others about) something that started out as a rumor.

Tiffany Dow is a prime example of rumors starting that simply aren’t true or even ACTUAL things happening that aren’t indicative of the type of person or marketer that she is. I mentioned in a comment on her blog this week in regards to a discussion about John Chow, that this year alone she lost her YouTube account and was banned from the Warrior Forum for two weeks due to TOS violations.

Now, for those of us that know, love, and follow Tiff, we’re very well aware of what happened and why, and that NONE of it was due to the fact that she might be a scumbag marketer! And that’s a fact in spite of what Jim believes about Warriors. 😉

But what about people that haven’t met her yet? What if someone who is new to Internet marketing (or even someone who has been around for a while but who hasn’t met Tiffany yet hears about any of those things? What if they ran across just a quick blurb from someone who said, “Oh, I heard she got her YouTube account shut down so you better avoid her!”

First of all, it would hurt Tiffany’s reputation in that person’s eyes. More importantly, it could cost a new person an opportunity to learn from someone who’s awesome at what she does. It’s really tough to find ethical marketers like Tiffany. It would suck for someone to lose access to her simply because someone threw a fact out there without the knowledge behind why it happened.

The media, in their usual half-assed way of reporting, are hurting a lot of innocent groups. They don’t care because their goal is ratings… But at what cost?

My question is:

What kind of marketer have you been? And, more importantly, what kind of marketer are you going to be? Will you be the one that investigates negative rumors before you pass judgment and make a decision about a fellow marketer? Will you pass on information without knowing the full story and risk hurting someone. Or will you think about what you heard and either investigate before passing it on or keep it to yourself?

I guess part of that answer might come from answering this question… What would you want other marketers to do if the comment or rumor was about you or YOUR business?

Looking forward to hearing your responses.

Until then….