In her July 25th IBISWorld article Detecting Fake News and Baloney During Procurement Research, Jeanette Jones provides terrific insight into how the uninformed public can be misled by fake news, and what they should do to protect themselves.
However, and as much as I applaud Jones’ piece for its thoroughness and value, it did not go far enough. Especially as it relates to coverage of the procurement world.
I believe that an equal if not greater danger exists regarding the stories that are not covered. Or to put it another way, an omission of the truth is no less fake than a false or inaccurate report.
An omission is “the” missing link in the Sagan chain that fails our industry.
For example, no one was willing to go anywhere near the conflict of interest story associated with the NIGP #CodeGate controversy. I can recall a well meaning associate who asked me if I understood the consequences of pursuing the story, while another had said that they were warned to keep their distance from me because I was ticking-off some influential people.
Of course, the industry eventually did come around in support of my coverage, as illustrated by the comment stream in my April 6th “Deep Throat” post. I am confident that the State of Missouri also appreciated the tenacity of my journalistic efforts.
There are more examples of similar type coverage on this blog. However, my point is that what you don’t know can indeed hurt you. And until we get to the point of covering the people more than the technology in our industry, the chain of real insight and industry knowledge will remain broken.
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Procurement Insights 
Kelly Barner
July 29, 2017
Hi Jon,
While your point regarding the non-coverage of critical stories is spot on, keep in mind that Jeanette is coming at the issue of fake news from a completely different perspective – one outside of the media. I went through a graduate program in Library Science just like Jeanette did and that is part of the training. Librarians don’t think about creating the news themselves, just finding and properly referencing the appropriate available information. I’ll grant you that it is a gap, but one for the media to solve, not consumers of media.
This topic also extends far beyond procurement. One of the humanitarian supply chain books I reviewed last year talked about the luck of the draw with humanitarian crises. The geographies and ’causes’ covered by the media are the ones that solicit global sympathy and remedy, even if they are surpassed by other crises that go unaddressed.
Ultimately, I believe the issue of non-news (the stories that are not covered for whatever reason) is a golden opportunity for those – such as yourself – that are willing to seize it.
piblogger
July 29, 2017
I agree with you, Kelly. I was not suggesting that media coverage was Jeanette’s responsibility. I think that she wrote a great post. However, and whether intended or not, her article is a challenge to those who do cover the industry to step out of their comfort zone and tell the whole story.
Until this is done with greater frequency, industry coverage will be hard pressed to rise above an infomercial status. This, in turn, will be an obstacle for our industry to attain the level of creditability it rightfully deserves.