As a child growing up in Chicago, my friends and I would often yell at each other, "Cheaters never prosper!" if we thought someone was playing unfairly on our Catholic school playground. In the business world over the years, I've learned that there's a lot of truth in that statement. Cheaters don't always succeed in business, and while we're on the subject, liars are always discovered.

We've seen these lessons played out a lot lately. The newspapers have been flooded with commentary about a former New York Times reporter and the poor conduct he displayed by purposely filing inaccurate stories. While his actions have cast a very negative light on the journalism community as a whole, causing many business owners to wonder if they've been treated fairly by the media in the past, it's important to note that unscrupulous reporters represent just a few "bad apples" in a very large barrel. Most journalists possess great integrity. It's their job to search for the truth so if you're a small-business owner ready to tell your company story, honesty is still the best policy - especially when it comes to dealing with the press.

So why do people lie to the press in the first place? You'd think that the most obvious answer would be because they have something to hide. In actuality many times lies are told inadvertently. Here are common examples and the ways in which to avoid these mistakes before it destroys your reputation: