President Donald Trump has been accused of dishonesty, spreading falsehoods, misrepresenting facts, distorting news, passing on inaccuracies and being loose with the truth. It’s a loaded word, and some Trump critics believe major news organizations are too timid to use it.
The Washington Post, which has documented more than 4,000 false or misleading claims by the president, declared for the first time last week that a Trump misstatement was a “lie.”
Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s plea deal provided “indisputable evidence that Trump and his allies have been deliberately dishonest” about hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote. The Post put Kessler’s assessment on its front page, and it was the newspaper’s most-read story online.
Not only was it the first time the Post said Trump had lied. Many news organizations resist using the word because of the question of intent.
Associated Press news cooperative’s standard editor, John Daniszewki says “we feel it’s better to say what the facts are, say what the person said and let the audience make the decision whether or not it’s an intentional lie.”
