Fuzz Words

The issue is not whether politicians lie, but what are they lying about today?

  Words can hurt, so to take some of the sting off a word, people use synonyms, often Latin-based phrases rather than Anglo-Saxon based words.
   For example, here are some terms used by journalists when challenging claims made by a political candidate: Demonstrably untrue, factually inaccurate, disingenuous, false statement, fabricated, misrepresented, questionable veracity, misleading, doesn't ring true. Meanwhile, an outspoken political opponent may use the more blunt, "He lies."
   For a candidate to challenge reporters by demanding that they answer questions, thus sidestepping an issue, is pointless. Reporters do not answer questions, they ask them, and their opinions are not relevant to what they do. A candidate for public office must be able to answer questions truthfully.
   Example 1: For a candidate to claim he was offered a full scholarship to the West Point Military Academy, as Republican Ben Carson has done repeatedly, is to mislead others, and exposes a belief that readers and supporters are gullible.
  Fact: No one ever gets a scholarship to West Point, since there is no tuition to begin with. Attendance is free to every cadet who manages to pass the strict admittance process.
   Example 2:  Chris Christie claimed he was named U.S. attorney for New Jersey the day before the 9/11 terrorist attack on what he called "my state."
   Fact: his appointment was not announced until December of that year, three months after the attack. Moreover, the targets of two of the planes were the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, in New York City. A third aircraft struck the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
   When politicians get defensive and assail news media for what they perceive as negative reports, it's important to remember that a journalist's duty is to report not only what a candidate says, but also to report truth.
   Or as a young reporter once asked her editor, "Did you ever get the feeling when working on a story that someone is lying to you?"
   The editor replied, "Of course. It happens all the time. But it's not our job to say he or she is lying. It's our job to report both sides of an issue, and the reader decides who's more credible."
   Currently, there's been a rash of stories about GOP candidates claiming things that are untrue, false, misleading, etc. That's a sign of good reporting.
   This is not to say that Democrats are immune to critical exposes by the news media. Many just have not been caught. Yet.
   Audacity in a news reporter is a virtue.
   Mendacity masquerading as virtuous outrage is a vice, and journalists have a duty to expose it.