Political Palaver

"I don't want you to cover the news. I want you to uncover the news." -- Editor's advice to reporters.

   It's a given among journalists that politicians lie, and some are more adept at it and harder to expose. That, however, only poses more of a challenge to reporters, whose duty is ferret out truth.
   At the same time, politicians are fond of calling each other names, especially during election campaigns. This makes a reporter's job easier, since they need only transcribe the allegations into readable sentences to make a juicy story.
   In turn, the candidates add yet more spice to their allegations, which makes the job even easier for reporters.
   It takes conscious effort, then, for journalists to focus on digging out the truth, and not just repeating the tripe fed them by politicians and their campaign staffers.
   Early in their careers, journalists learn to ignore the more blatant lies spread by politicians and to focus on things that matter to readers and voters.
   The amount of verbiage spouted at Town Council, City Hall, State House and Congressional meetings, as well as at the UN, is limited only by the ability of the participants to stay awake. For journalists, other limits are imposed by the space available between the ads of a newspaper, or the time available on a broadcast news program.
   So what are the guidelines reporters and editors use in deciding which story to place where, and how much space and time to give it? That's called editorial judgement, and it's the responsibility of a free press to use that judgement wisely and well, and not to bend to the pressures of politicians or advertisers.
   The prime journalistic duty is to tell readers and viewers not just what they want to know, but what they need to know.
   Many times, flip remarks and inaccuracies perpetrated by politicians are ignored, unless the issue is so important that falsehoods and flippery show  an ignorance or a dangerous direction being taken by an official or candidate. In that case, journalists are duty bound to report the claims, falsehoods or lies uttered by candidates and officials.
   In doing so, they face public attacks by the politicians, who call them unfair, dishonest or many other adjectives.
   Journalists, however, will continue to cover the news, reporting exactly what the politician says and does.
   That's fair, isn't it?
   Most people, and political candidates especially, dislike those who expose their flaws, misdeeds, unlawful actions and general misbehaviors, including lies, and react by attacking those who do their journalistic duty.
   But as President Harry Truman said, "If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen."