How Bogus Numbers Become Fact

We’ve seen in the past how easily bogus stats from a biased industry can suddenly become “fact” as the Serbian press uses the numbers without questioning the assumptions or even noting the inherent bias in the numbers. What’s most frustrating is that the Serbian press continues to take these studies at face value, and never once questions the most basic (and ridiculous) assumptions used to create the numbers. Take, for example, this interview given by Aleksandar Radosavljevic, CEO of Carlsberg Serbia and Foreign Investors Council (FIC) president, on the supposed impact on foreign investment of actual crisis. Radosavljevic claims that the world economic crisis is costing Serbia EUR 800 million of investments. The problem is that the number the FIC president is using wasn’t based on a careful study or anything. It’s amazing that the press still doesn’t bother questioning where the FIC president came up with its number or how accurate (or inaccurate) it may be. Looking at the details, it’s not at all difficult for anyone to realize that the number is completely bogus — it’s impossible to calculate, but for some reason, these lobbyists can always find press willing to restate the number as fact, and that often leads to a nice virtuous circle, whereby lobbyists and Serbian politicians can then point to the news report to support their bogus numbers.