Why I do not trust the Forbes' rankings anymore?

The highly reputed international magazine, Forbes, regularly publishes various rankings in the form of ‘Forbes Lists’ which are often considered as a benchmark for global or regional or individual wealth and power. Millions of people refer to those lists and rely on the information provided by the magazine. Apart from the high standard of business journalism, one of the major reasons for the popularity of Forbes is due to the rankings it publishes. Considering the credibility it has gained over years, it is a general perception that the magazine’s editorial staff treat this periodic activity with utmost seriousness by giving due attention to all the aspects. However, while going through the lists of Richest Indians published on the official website of Forbes (as seen on 4th-5th December 2014), my personal opinion changed to some extent.

The credibility of the Forbes rankings certainly comes under a shadow of doubt when we take a closer look at the data provided in the various lists which are displayed on the official website. Let me share a few examples which came to light when I compared the World's Richest Lists with India's Richest List on the same date. Obviously, there were some names which are common on both the lists. The net worth of Mukesh Ambani, #1 richest Indian is shown as $ 23.6B in the India's Richest List while on the World's Richest List, his net worth is shown as $18.6B. Ironically, the photo and the caption on both the pages are same and even the error on the caption text is also getting repeated. But Ambani is not alone, the same treatment has been meted to others as well. Take another case, Savitri Jindal whose ranking on India's richest list and world's richest list happens to be #12 and #295 respectively. Her networth is shown as $ 6.4B and $4.9B on the respective lists while the caption below her photograph mentions her world ranking as #80. While it is understandable that there could be some minor differences in the figures but it is baffling to see so much variations.

The reason for the disenchantment is further due to the fact that I was able to spot more than half a dozen factual errors on the photo captions in the list of richest Indians which included top 100 billionaires from India in 2014. The official website of the magazine published photographs of these high ranking billionaires along with their captions. Surprisingly, the captions were not matching what was shown in those photographs.

Although it may be argued that those mistakes may not impact the rankings but this editorial faux pas conveys a message that Forbes is hardly bothered on how the factual information is presented to the millions of online readers. Such instances also give rise to questions on the credibility of the rankings which are published by the magazine. If the magazine is so careless about how the information is publicly presented on their website which is viewed by millions, then it may be wondered how seriously it is doing the analysis while making the lists? Now, after finding so many silly errors in a list which shows some of the best known names in the business world, it is anybody’s guess how seriously the reputed publication takes its own lists.

In this fast paced age of internet journalism, we often tend to ignore minor typographical mistakes on websites or blogs. Such human errors are bound to creep into the blogs, websites and news material published on internet because of various reasons and maybe overlooked. But if the publication happens to be as reputed as Forbes magazine, the expectations are obviously much higher.

Here are a few examples of the editorial faux pas from Forbes’ official website:

(Screenshots captured on 4-5th December 2014 from the official website of Forbes, www.forbes.com)

• Error# 1: The caption on the photo mentions that India’s #1 billionaire, Mukesh Ambani is posing with his wife Nita whereas she is not visible anywhere in the frame.
  
  Photo Caption on Forbes website: “Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani (L) poses with his wife Nita...” http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/mukesh-ambani
• Error# 2: The caption on the photo of India’s #3 richest person, mentions Communication and Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad with Azim Premji whereas the photo shows him alone.
  
  Photo Caption of Forbes website: “New Delhi, India, July 03: Communication and Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad with Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro...” http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/azim-premji

• Error# 3: The caption on the photo of India’s #5 richest person says that Lakshmi Mittal is flanked by Commission president Jean Grellier at an appearance at Paris. The other person is nowhere to be seen in the photo.
  
  Photo Caption of Forbes website: “Steel giant group Arcellor Mittal’s president Lakshmi Mittal (L) posses prior to the start of a ‘Commission of inquiry’... flanked by Commission president Jean Grellier(C)…”http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/lakshmi-mittal
• Error# 4: The caption on the photo of India’s wealthiest woman, Savitri Jindal - #12 on the list, shows her net worth at $6.4B and right below, it is mentioned as US$10.9billion. Which of the figures is correct?
  
  Photo Caption of Forbes website: “Savitri Jindal, India’s wealthiest and the world’s 80th richest person with a net worth of US$10.9 billion…”http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/savitri-jindal
• Error# 5: The caption on the photo of Vivek Chaand Sehgal, mentions him along with Laksh Vaaman Sehgal whereas the photo shows a single person.Photo Caption of Forbes website: “Vivek Chaand Sehgal ,Executive Chairman & Executive Director Samvardhana Motherson Finance Limited (R) along with Laksh Vaaman Sehgal…” http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/vivek-chaand-sehgal
• Error# 6: The caption on the photo of the founding member of Infosys, N.R. Narayan Murthy mentions second right (2R) among three other persons – K.V. Kamath, SD Shibulal and Kris Gopalakrishna. Photo Caption of Forbes website: “Indian founding member of Infosys, N.R. Narayana Murthy (2R), looks at outgoing chairman K.V. Kamath (R), as CEO SD Shibulal (2L) and former CEO Kris Gopalakrishna (L) look on…“ http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/nr-narayana-murthy
• Error# 7: The caption on the photo of #58 on the list, Ashwin Choksi, mentions him with another person, M. L. Bansal. However, in the photo, he is standing alone holding a microphone. Photo Caption of Forbes website: “Mr. Ashwin G. Choksi, Chairman, Asian Paints and Mr. M. L. Bansal, Secretary at the company’s AGM…" http://www.forbes.com/india-billionaires/gallery/ashwin-choksi

Now all this leaves a lot of open questions in our minds about the authenticity of the these popular lists published by Forbes. Surely, the magazine needs to do a lot more to maintain the credibility and trust that it has enjoyed from the millions of readers worldwide over the years. After all, trust is like an eraser, it gets smaller and smaller after every mistake. Is Forbes Inc. listening?