Newspapers Attack Beto O'Rourke and Other Politicians for Commitment to Truthfulness

COLUMBUS, Ohio - July 2, 2018 - PRLog -- A recent editorial (http://www.amarillo.com/opinion/20180603/editorial-politicians-are-human---and-that-is-no-lie/1) in the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas attacked Beto O'Rourke by name and all other politicians in Texas and elsewhere who took the Pro-Truth Pledge (https://www.protruthpledge.org/) (PTP). It was written without a byline, thus representing the official opinion of the editorial board of the newspaper itself. Shortly afterward, another Texas newspaper republished it (http://www.lubbockonline.com/opinion/20180603/editorial-politicians-are-human---and-that-is-no-lie) and then another one (https://www.dentonrc.com/opinion/editorials/politicians-are-human-and-that-is-no-lie/article_d3568188-4003-5313-af2c-8034b7b6598f.html), all without bylines and representing the official position of the newspapers.

A close reading of the editorial shows that it is self-contradictory and hypocritical, twisting itself into knots trying to slam politicians who committed to truthful behaviors. Consider this quote from the editorial:

• There is an old joke that is relevant to today's editorial – how can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving… People should not make a show of doing something they should be doing anyway. In this case, shouldn't politicians tell the the truth without having to sign some silly document stating they are pledging to tell the truth? Yes, we know it is completely unrealistic to expect our elected officials to be truthful. We are not living in a fantasy land. However, it just seems a tad absurd for elected officials – and those who want to be elected officials – to sign a document stating they will be truthful. Shouldn't this be assumed?

This quote claims that: 1) we can't expect politicians to be truthful; 2) we should assume that politicians are truthful; 3) politicians should not sign a document claiming they will be truthful.

In other words, the editorial argues against all codes of ethics, ranging from the Ten Commandments (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments), to the Better Business Bureau Code of Business Practices (https://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/for-businesses/bbb-code...), to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp) (which the editorial writer – being a journalist – presumably signed). If we follow the logic of the editorial, we should assume that people, journalists, and businesses – though they should be ethical – are inherently unethical. Thus, we should disregard any code of ethics to which they commit, and criticize them for committing to it.

In fact, as commenter Dan Bessire points out at the bottom of this editorial (http://www.lubbockonline.com/opinion/20180603/editorial-politicians-are-human---and-that-is-no-lie?start=2), one of the newspapers that published this editorial, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, actually pledged "to the goals of The Local Media Consortium in preventing fake news." Given this, it seems quite a stretch for the newspaper to express an official opinion condemning politicians who make pledges.

Notably, the editorial specifically fails to describe the substantial accountability mechanism (https://www.protruthpledge.org/how-are-pledge-takers-held-accountable/) that underpins the pledge. Unlike some other codes of conduct, the PTP has a clear and specific way of ensuring that politicians and other public figures who take the pledge stick to it. In failing to discuss the accountability mechanism, the editorial writer clearly lies by omission.

Given these problems, we have to assume a different motivation for the editorial than an honest criticism of the PTP and the politicians who took the pledge. These attacks, combined with the hypocrisy of the editorial, can only point to the fact that the PTP is having a real impact in the political sphere. We have already found out that according to studies (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3138238), after taking the PTP signers tend to behave more truthfully. This editorial shows that the PTP is actually getting the truth-oriented politicians who signed it positive reputational rewards, whether the Republican member of the Texas State Legislature James Earl White (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_White_(Texas_politician), or the Democrat member of US Congress from Texas Beto O'Rourke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beto_O'Rourke), over 20 other Texas politicians (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tefH30TLYiJ3Ym-cXFjVVxXgoPas2ljbIZ5RE2SjByE/edit?usp=sharing) who took the pledge, and the 500 other politicians (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mfnWlGdXshIOUde8lk7_a7Z3iixAeZ2385gaj4HA_0I/edit?usp=sharing) who signed the pledge.

Those who don't want the truth – and truth-oriented politicians – to get ahead are now waking up and seeing this impact. The fact that they are trying to fight back means the truth is winning!