On Monday, PBS News Hour followed NPR’s Fresh Air in promoting New York Times reporter David Enrich’s anti-Trump book Murder The Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful. Right-wingers from President Trump to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are cartooned as “truth murderers.”
Enrich’s book is about the Supreme Court precedent in New York Times vs. Sullivan, which is not about “truth,” but about setting a very high standard in defamation cases against public figures: you have to prove “actual malice,” not merely false reporting.
This was the online headline at PBS:
‘Murder the Truth’ examines growing effort to silence journalists and curtail free speech
Ha! Notice how it echoes the online headline at NPR:
‘Murder the Truth’ describes a campaign to silence journalists and curb free speech
PBS…
