Opinion: Time for media to turn up the pressure, Potsdam resident says

Sometimes people get the name of my school wrong. On a whim, I searched Google for “dennis jerz seton hall” and found a recent letter to the editor that referenced one of my handouts: Verify or Duck: Good Journalists Confirm Details They Didn’t Witness

Once when I shared the journalism catchphrase “verify or duck,” some of my students laughed and told me they heard “verify your duck.”

Dennis Jerz of Seton Hall University writes “Good journalists confirm details they didn’t Witness…Don’t repeat unconfirmed claims(2)”. The latter statement provides a real quandary for today’s media. We now have a president who, according to the Washington Post, has produced 6420 false or misleading claims since attaining office.

By continuing to report lies, even while publishing disclaimers – “….without evidence….not confirmed…”,etc. – the media becomes complicit in spreading those lies. —Tim Schwob, North Country Now

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