Two months into the Major League Baseball season, things seem to be going pretty well after the biggest changes in the sport’s rules since the designated hitter was created a half-century ago. But let’s not get carried away about the new pitch clock and bigger bases and such, because baseball is still about throwing a ball, hitting a ball and catching a ball. There are no tackles or blocks, no headers, and nobody aims a jab at a jaw. That happens in other sports. There are rules against that in baseball.
The world of sports, you see, is so much more civilized and orderly than the rest of life. Yes, there are rules in politics, but they don’t cover the most important stuff — namely, what people say and do. And what about journalism, which has been my career? It’s nearly a free-for-all, thanks to the First Amendment.
This is actually as it should be: In a free society, the rules of politics and journalism are set and enforced by the choices of citizens. Yet that presents a dilemma when it comes to what ought to be the fundamental rule in both fields: You must tell the truth.
If voters look the other way when a politician lies, no rulebook can throw out their decision. And if media consumers don’t care or don’t notice when they’re fed a diet of misinformation by a media outlet, there’s no referee to call the material foul.
So it’s infuriating to note the contempt for truth that is now on display among most Republican politicians and their media enablers, notably Fox News. They’re competing in a different ballpark from the rest of us. They’ve walked off the field of democracy.
When Fox News commentators say that the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol in January of 2021 were “sightseers,” a lot of people believe them. And when Congresswoman Elise Stefanik claims that the House committee that investigated the attack was a “scam” but that, thanks to Fox News, “the Democrats’ dishonest narrative is being demolished” – those were her words – then the rule of truth-telling that ought to be fundamental to democracy is being trashed.
When three-quarters of the Republicans elected to the U.S. House publicly claim that Donald Trump actually won the 2020 presidential race – which everybody not named Donald Trump knows is false – then it’s fair to say the party is taking the field with a bunch of liars and cheaters. And what do you call it when the Republican establishment embraces the claim of white nationalists that Democrats want to open the southern border so brown-skinned migrants can replace white voters? Well, you could say that the purveyors of these notions are about as trustworthy as the 1919 Chicago White Sox.
But here’s the thing: If you press ordinary citizens on the question of politicians’ honesty, they’re likely to suggest that what the Fox commentators and Republican officeholders are saying, whether true or not, is just part of the political game. You’ve surely heard the typical retort: “They all do it.”
No, in fact, they don’t. Commentators on MSNBC and CNN may generally espouse a progressive viewpoint, but they do it within the context of reality, and with respect for facts. The news pages of what are often labeled “liberal” publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, fairly portray all sides of political issues, and cover topics that cross the range of public opinion. NPR reporters are not, in fact, lying to public radio listeners.
In fact, to suggest that today’s right-wing politicians are simply playing the political game aggressively is an insult to athletics. Children who get good coaches as they start to play organized sports are taught that it’s more important to play by the rules than to win – and that good athletes respect their opponents and the referees or umpires.
That’s where we come in. In matters of politics and journalism, we are not only the referees, but also the league executives – that is, the people who make the rules. We need to be at least as bold about our nation’s political system as the overseers of sports are about protecting the profits their games generate.
The solution isn’t to abolish the First Amendment and restrict the free speech of lying politicians and TV commentators. It is, rather, to enforce what ought to be the fundamental rule of truth, by loudly and continually protesting those who disregard it. Journalists ought to incessantly insist upon accountability from politicians who are purveyors of untruth. Voters must confront officials who convey their disrespect by imagining we’re not smart enough to recognize a lie when we hear it.
What’s being contested on this field is the survival of democracy itself. Since its citizens and news consumers who essentially get to decide which players get to stay in the game, we have only ourselves to blame if we fail to stand up for the rules. And if we want democracy to win this contest, we need to insist that Rule No. 1 is this: Tell the truth.
Rex Smith, the co-host of The Media Project on WAMC, is the former editor of the Times Union of Albany and The Record in Troy. His weekly digital report, The Upstate American, is published by Substack.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.