"Pants on Fire"

   Last week we noted that reporters have an obligation to bring out Truth and expose Falsehood. This brought a comment that "matters of opinion and identifying the 'big lie' should be left to editors, commentators and columnists."
   Yesterday, Page One of the New York Times reported on a Romney ad that said Chrysler "is going to begin producing Jeeps in China ... leaving the misleading impression that the move would come at the expense of jobs here." The reporters also noted that recent Romney statements "stretch or ignore the facts."
   The story was immediately followed by denunciations from two major auto executives. "Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China. It is inaccurate to suggest anything different," said Chrysler executive Sergio Marchionne. And General Motors spokesman Greg Martin called the ad "cynical campaign politics at its worst," according to the Times report.
   Moreover, it quoted a Romney spokesman as defending the ad for speaking truth: Jeeps are not currently made in China (technically true) and soon will be. (Perhaps. Or perhaps not.) But to suggest that a certain firm will do so, and as a direct result of Washington bailout policies toward the auto industry, earned the ad a "pants on fire" designation from fact checkers.
   The position from here is firm: Reporters have an obligation to bring out Truth and expose Falsehood. Stretch the facts too far, and that, too, will go on Page One.