How journalists respond to intentional deception will be a defining feature of 2012 political coverage. Will they allow themselves to become accessories to deceptive politicians? Or will they aggressively and repeatedly expose misinformation and the people who traffic in it? Full Story »
Posted by Fabrice Florin - via Jay Rosen
Insightful commentary by HuffPost correspondent Dan Froomkin on how journalists should respond to deceptive political statements. This post focuses on a recent ad by Mitt Romney, which makes it sound like President Obama said something he didn't (see link to FactCheck.org piece). Froomkin presents a variety of thoughtful perspectives from experts in this field (e.g. Poynter's Kelly McBride) to support his view that blatant lies should be called out aggressively by journalists.
“I think professional journalists have an absolute obligation to make lies transparent. … Democracy doesn’t work if journalism doesn’t work and journalism isn’t working if falsehoods pervade the marketplace of ideas.”
Kelly McBride, Poynter Institute