George Costanza
A Friendly Liberal
A political leader makes a statement that is later determined to not only have been untrue, but to have been a lie, i.e., the political leader knew it was false when it was uttered. The statement is reported by the media as if it is factually correct. It is not questioned.
Has the media failed to do something it should have done by not questioning the statement and/or by leading the public to believe it is a true statement?
What is the responsibility of journalism with respect to statements made by political leaders which they report? If a journalist knows that a political leader is lying, does he or she have a duty to say as much? Or is it only a journalist's duty to report what is said, without "passing judgement" on the utterance?
Has the media failed to do something it should have done by not questioning the statement and/or by leading the public to believe it is a true statement?
What is the responsibility of journalism with respect to statements made by political leaders which they report? If a journalist knows that a political leader is lying, does he or she have a duty to say as much? Or is it only a journalist's duty to report what is said, without "passing judgement" on the utterance?