Truth

Outline

Truth (2018) explores how the same facts can be used to tell very different stories. Hector MacDonald shows how politicians, advertisers, businesses, and activists choose competing truths, selecting which facts to share, how to frame them, and what to leave out, to shape how we think and act. The book helps readers recognise misleading uses of truth and use honest communication more effectively.

• The same set of facts can be used to tell very different stories depending on who is speaking.
• Communicators shape what we think by choosing which facts to share, how to frame them, and what to leave out.
• Politicians, advertisers, businesses, and activists all promote competing truths rather than one agreed account.
• Learning to spot misleading uses of true facts makes it easier to avoid being swayed by them.
• Honest communication can use the same techniques of selection and framing, but with openness about its aims.

Hector MacDonald is a British strategic communications consultant and author who has advised major companies, governments, and organisations on how to communicate complex ideas. He has also written novels. In Truth, he draws on his experience in communications to explain how facts are selected and framed to influence people.