Word: falsehoods
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...anonymous sources, Adams appealed to fair play and to a growing opinion, even among journalists, that reporters place far too much faith in people unwilling to back up what they say. Often, unnamed sources seek to advance some personal agenda. Sometimes they tell lies and lend extra credence to falsehood by peddling it as top-secret truth. While Adams' abrupt withdrawal, at the end of a weekend during which he had raised $130,000 for his campaign, seemed like a tacit admission of guilt, he insisted that in his case the allegations -- which range from uninvited fondling of women...
...like a hyperbolic inventory of life in certain neighborhoods of the late 20th century: "This is a sewer to which all the filths of the universe come to be reunited. Here people despise God, they adore money, they trample underfoot both human laws and divine law. Everything here breathes falsehood: the air, the earth, the houses, and above all, the bedrooms...
...Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, meanwhile, a moderate administration and faculty have faced off against a conservative board. Under a compromise reached three weeks ago, tenured faculty will keep their jobs, but future teachers will be required to profess that the Bible is "free from all falsehood, fraud or deceit...
Despite all the fuss, the issue doesn't seem very complicated. "X said Y" is a factual assertion. If X didn't say Y, it is a false assertion. But falsehood is just one part of a libel case. You have to prove the falsehood was defamatory. You have to prove you've been harmed. These constraints will take care of most of the nightmare scenarios journalists worry about, such as being sued for "cleaning up" quotes. Above all, if X is a public figure, you have to prove the misquote was committed with "reckless disregard for the truth...
...have their own elaborate reality and logic. Each makes some sense on its own terms, each is performing its role in collision with the other before the eyes of the world. Each is persuasive to itself and alien to the other. One side's truth is the other's falsehood. A headline in Al-Rai, Jordan's largest-circulation daily, stated last week, WE ((Arabs)) FIGHT WITH THE SWORD OF GOD. THE U.S. FIGHTS WITH THE SWORD OF SATAN...