When Lies Become Just Another Part of the News

Take the daily news Whether it39s politics Wall Street hustlers or the tech world39s scandals untruths and their tellers dominate the headlines The former President lies about his defeat sics a mob on the Capitol to overturn the election and plans to run on the falsehood again A partytime surferturnedCEO touts a new real estate play after the office rental business he dressed up in high tech drag is defrocked losing billions along the way A college dropout who became a media darling is convicted in federal court of flimflamming Silicon Valley sharks big time money managers and the political elite into backing a blood testing fraudLiars and their work products of course are generating more than lead stories Congressional as well as federal state and local investigations into Trump39s actions are underway in New York Georgia and the District of Columbia The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to make public more information from large private companies including billion dollar quotunicornsquot now dodging the kind of disclosures that protect investors in public markets And recent revelations about social media for example Pro Publica39s superb report on how Facebook helped Trumpinspired crazies link up prior to January 6 are amplifying calls to rein in their damaging roleWhatever the results of investigations and exposamp233s the quotuntrue thingsquot surrounding Donald Trump Adam Neumann Elisabeth Holmes and Facebook arenamp8217t going to disappear from the front page anytime soon There39s also more at stake in uncovering their mendacities than a scoop or the premiere of a docudrama that boosts streaming subscriptions sold With popular distrust in American institutions at alltime highs how the news media pursue lies matters not only in informing Americans but also in influencing the country39s standing around the worldFor example whatever their sources the normalization of lies is shaping how America is viewed abroad as well as at home Consider the country39s quotsoft powerquot Harvard professor Joe Nye coined the term 30 years ago asserting that a nationamp8217s culture ideology and values influence popular perceptions in ways that can coopt foreign leaders and shape their actions Nye39s soft power concept including the appeal of Americaamp8217s principles opportunities and freedoms helps explain an underpinning of the country39s world role since its founding empowering presidencies and their policies Democrat and Republican alikeIts erosion also didn39t start yesterday Decades of sharpening partisan divisions as well as gridlock in Washington have engendered growing skepticism about US politics and policies Trump39s destructive behavior including on January 6 accelerated the trends Surveyed last January by the European Council on Foreign Relations 61 percent of those asked in 11 EU member states said they believed the US political system was either completely or partially broken A Pew Research Center poll two months ago showed solid majorities in 14 European and Asian countries no longer believe the United States is a good democratic model to followAllied leaders are expressing unprecedented concern about American stability Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull put it this way quotWhen you see the absolute essential foundations of the democracy being challenged from within and where you see amp8230 the Republican Party actually challenging the constitutional institutions on which this great democracy amp8230 depends that39s what really undermines public international faith in American democracyquot He39s not alone In the 2021 US News and World Report ranking of the best countries for business the United States fell more than any other in perceived political stabilityPrevaricating politicians aren39t the only ones in the spotlight as questions are raised about America39s model around the world Regulators as well as the public and political leaders in Europe and Asia are putting American corporations and their business practices under new scrutiny Case in point privacy anticompetitive behavior and the role of social media in fomenting extremism Regulatory agencies and legislatures in the EU and elsewhere are moving decisively to challenge the tech giants whose doubletalk not to mention millions in lobbying outlays so far have stymied comparable action in WashingtonIs lying at leadership levels a peculiar American problem Based on the just released EY Global Integrity Report 2022 Ernst and Young would answer not at all The global accounting firm39s worldwide report surveyed some 4700 executives and employees Despite the growing corporate emphasis on business integrity 42 percent of the 442 corporate board members polled said their companies tolerated unethical behavior by senior executives and highflyers Nearly oneinfive 18 percent said they would be prepared to mislead auditors or regulators to improve their careers or pay 15 percent added falsifying financial records to get ahead as wellAre there consequences when lies by leaders of all stripes become just another part of the news A view from abroad offered one answer Broadcast journalist Robert Moore Britain39s ITV News correspondent who covered the January 6 insurrection sounded an early warning last week Moore assessed the state of American television reporting and a possible Trump presidential candidacy quotNewsrooms are woefully illprepared for what is coming down the trackquot he saidSpeaking to the New Statesman Moore pondered how American broadcast journalism will cover Trump on the 2024 campaign trail quotAre they going to cover a Trump rally if he39s spouting misogynistic and inflammatory language Or if he continues to regard the election as a fraud do they put him on air saying that It39s not at all clear to me that newsrooms are ready for the biggest test for a generation maybe for many generationsquotMoore is raising all the right questions whether Trump runs or not But in a country that appears to have normalized lying from the Oval Office as well as the Csuite will anybody here bother to askClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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When Lies Become Just Another Part of the News

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Kent M. Harrington

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