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- Ken Paulson and Kent Syler are professors at Middle Tennessee State University.
- Paulson serves as director of the Center for Free Speech. Syler is the Special Projects Coordinator at the Albert Gore Research Center.
A popular newsroom adage is, “If your mom says she loves you, check it out.”
A recent adage goes, “If a candidate for Congress lies about their education, business experience, personal life, or even the death of an employee in a nightclub shooting, wait for the New York Times to confirm it.” Please wait” is approaching.
The Times’ revelation that Long Island Republican Congressman-elect George Santos has fabricated many of his public figures on the road to election has long been the dominant local authority in the sprawling sprawl of the sprawling suburbs. Very embarrassing for Newsday, which was the newsroom, and other regional news media that didn’t…don’t check Santos’ claims before the election.
The only exception was the ultra-local weekly North Shore Reader, which questioned Santos’ net worth claims in September. The paper, with its conservative roots, then wrote that it wanted to support Republicans but could not support Santos.
These were not various claims from Santos. He claimed he worked for Goldman, Sachs and Citigroup, and Baruch he graduated from college, but now admits all of that is not true. But there are also questions about how his net worth has skyrocketed, his role in leading a charity, and the allegations that four of his employees were killed in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. there is. New questions about his past statements pop up almost daily.
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Consider these points on how Santos got around it
The fact that his lies were not publicly revealed before he was elected denounces and justifies the news media. It’s like blaming the police for a crime.
Santos was not elected on the basis of a lie because of a journalism misstep. The downside is the political process, which is full of cynicism and lacks honesty.
There are many responsibilities around.
- Neither the Republicans nor Democrats who allowed Santos to run under that banner bothered to conduct basic vetting of political candidates. It was rated a toss-up for months. The House’s control could have rested on that outcome. It received enough attention from political donors that both campaigns were able to raise millions of dollars.
- Democrat Robert Zimmerman’s campaign missed a rare opportunity to hold Santos accountable for his lies. It was just talking about ‘values’. If the Democrats and the Zimmerman campaign had done their homework, Santos would have easily been disqualified. They had enough campaign money to spread their message.
- Republicans should be held accountable for not conducting an investigation into two-time Republican candidate Santos. Their inaction led to the election of a candidate who embarrassed the Republican Party and put its members on the defensive. Opposition investigations have been part of political campaigns for decades. It’s not uncommon to “write a book” on an opponent, but it’s not uncommon to write a book on a candidate as well. We want to know what information is available to our opponents and the media.
- Today’s hyperpolarized political culture is fueled by a win-or-win mentality where the ends justify the means. Santos needed to be a political Forrest Gump for all his implausible stories to be true, but that didn’t deter his supporters or ask them basic questions. I didn’t cause it.
- Many people complain about the failure of the news media, but how many actually support American journalism financially? has been devastated by job cuts. Even the mighty Times, which has bucked many trends and expanded its digital audience and subscription base, has shrunk its metro New York desk over the past decade. We are collecting funds for Watchdog. There is also an uneasy percentage of Americans who denounce or ignore news reports that are unfavorable to their political party of choice. The hard truth is not “fake news”.
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Winning at any cost comes at a price
The leader of the North Shore, the only news outlet to denounce Santos before the election, is taking a winning lap with an article headlined “The Leader Said So”.
And so it did.
Leaders have also shown how to set aside political preferences for the benefit of the nation. This is an increasingly rare act in a country too often paralyzed by partisanship.
Winning at all costs costs America dearly.
Ken Paulson and Kent Syler are professors at Middle Tennessee State University and serve as the Center for Free Speech Director and Special Projects Coordinator at the Albert Gore Research Center, respectively..
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