Maven: Missed Connections on Airlines

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The most common complaint I hear from readers about the business media is that they should stick to reporting the facts. Which is, of course, impossible. No, The Business Press Maven is not going to give you a sophomore-year flashback and tell you that there's no such thing as fact, that the concept of objective truth is total illusion and that everything from the definition of evil to EBITDA is wide open to interpretation.

That sort of hippie-dippy nonsense makes The Business Press Maven want to drown himself in a sink, and it will lose investors gobs of money. Absolute truths exist, but, savvy investor, realize this:

It takes more than reporting facts to get there.

You have to interpret the facts correctly and, more to the point, relate one fact to the other when there exist facts that are clearly close cousins. Only then will the reporting of the facts lead you to the truth.

Look at how these three articles on the exact same issue of foreign access to American and European airspace gets -- or fails to get at -- the truth and the way the world works, and you'll see how the business media have to do more than report the facts. They have to interpret those facts. And good investors are always asking as they read, "Are these facts being interpreted and related in a way that gets at the truth?"