WSJ Editor: Calling Trump's lies "lies" implies "a deliberate intent to mislead"

[Miles Archer]

WASHINGTON ― Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker said his newspaper would not refer to false statements from the Trump administration as “lies,” because doing so would ascribe a “moral intent” to the statements.

Baker appeared on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday, where he described some of President-elect Donald Trump’s falsehoods as “questionable” and “challengeable.” But, he said, “I’d be careful about using the word ‘lie.’ ‘Lie’ implies much more than just saying something that’s false. It implies a deliberate intent to mislead.”

He said reporters should state the facts, but leave classifying them to readers, citing the example of Trump’s claim that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating on 9/11 (which is false).

“I think it’s then up to the reader to make up their own mind to say, ‘This is what Donald Trump says. This is what a reliable, trustworthy news organization reports. And you know what? I don’t think that’s true.’”

The New York Times editorial board has used “lie” to describe Trump’s rampant abuse of facts. And Washington Post conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin has taken the media to task for not using the word. Other outlets ― including MSNBC, New York Magazine and HuffPost ― will use the word when it’s merited.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wall-street-journal-lies-donald-trump_us_586934b8e4b0eb586489df43

[dhol82]

1. Obviously beholden to his overlord.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. To be fair, given Mr. Trump is a pathological liar, he may not

actually be making conscience decisions to mislead every time he lies, usually he does, but given he lies about everything, and I do mean everything, it is plausible that from time to time a lie he tells is not an intent to mislead.

I dont know if anyone this mentally ill has ever had this much power before, the only ones who come to mind are Hitler and Mussolini.

[lpbk2713]

3. "Meanwhile, tune in to Faux Snooze for further details."

The Editor in Chief is full of GOP crap.

[AmericanActivist]

4. Right, it's not like tRump was born in Kenya or something (SARCASM ON!) nm

[liberal N proud]

5. Truth was the biggest casualty of 2016!

Of all the death that happened and all that was lost, Truth has to be the worst loss of all.

[DURHAM D]

6. I hope that fool didn't/isn't raising any children. nt

[gratuitous]

7. Okay, by that standard, Mr. Baker

Why doesn't Trump just make factual statements? If he's indulging in falsehoods and untrue statements, he either (a) doesn't care what the truth is; or (2) is trying to mislead people by saying something wrong that pleases him more than the truth. In both cases, he's trying to mislead people. So . . . it's a lie. Call it like it is, you overpaid chickenshit.

[pansypoo53219]

8. is it not his job to find out why the lie? PRESSTITUTE.

[spanone]

9. And Not Calling Trump's lies "lies" implies "a deliberate intent to mislead"