Most journalists have an admirable instinct to be fair to the people they cover. But it often emerges as the traditional “both-sides” approach, which has become discredited in an era when one side consistently lies.

It’s especially absurd when quoting both sides means giving deceitful people a forum to change the subject and launch yet more lies.

A case in point is this, from the Washington Post. In the screenshot below is a quote from the story (labeled “analysis” — the dodge journalism uses to insert opinion into what is allegedly straight news coverage).

It’s important to note that the Post’s instinct in this piece is good. It wants to not just debunk one of Trump’s often-repeated fairy tales, but to explain — with facts from people who know what they’re talking about — why what he says is nonsensical garbage.

But when it asks for comment from the campaign, the Trump apparatchik responds with an attack that doesn’t even attempt to address the question, as you can see from the screnshot above.

There is zero need to publish that response verbatim.

The appropriate way to handle the Trump campaign non-response would be something like this:

“A campaign spokesperson replied to the Post’s query with an attack on the news organization. She did not address the questions we asked.”

That’s it. Don’t do stenography for liars. No one benefits, except the liar.

(h/t https://mastodon.social/@waldoj — https://mastodon.social/@waldoj/112861853467127984)