Nonetheless, most analysts appear too sanguine about Vivendi's ability to wriggle its way to safety, in part because they accept its flattering ebitda numbers.

ECONOMIST: Vivendi Universal

Yet Vivendi consolidates all of Cegetel's earnings, flattering its reported numbers.

ECONOMIST: Vivendi Universal

Unlike movie or restaurant reviews, the mainstream travel media is undying in its adulation, invariably flattering, and on those occasions when I have had an assignment to cover a place and felt guilty telling people to go there because it was not worthwhile, the story would be killed, rather than run in a way that reflects reality.

FORBES: The Worst Luxury Hotel Ever?

Freedom House, which monitors democracy and other civil liberties, puts America at a more flattering 17th place in its latest press-freedom survey.

ECONOMIST: The rich aren't always free, nor the poor unfree

She also proudly recounts how quickly a flattering chart about job creation that the campaign disseminated online found its way to the inboxes and Facebook walls of apolitical relatives.

ECONOMIST: The Obama campaign