Thread by @jayrosen_nyu

First suggested by @GeorgeLakoff, the three-beat, "truth sandwich" method is a way of reporting on dubious claims, strategic deception and public lying WITHOUT giving undue publicity to a false or dubious claim, which can help it spread. This short thread explains... 1/

Here are the steps:

1.) State what is true.

2.) Report that a false or dubious claim has been made. (But only if it's newsworthy, meaning important for the public to know it happened. Otherwise use silence.)

3.) Repeat what the truth actually is.

Now for an example... 2/

A "truth sandwich" lede:

There's no clear evidence that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, protects against Coronavirus. Donald Trump said today he's taking it, but his doctor would not confirm that, and medical experts have said it could have dangerous side effects. 3/

As you can see from the example, the idea is to bracket the troublesome claim between accurate statements so that it is neither the first nor the last impression in a news bulletin. This is not a solution to the problem of how to report on false charges and likely BS, just... 4/

... a better practice that is not hard to learn, and could become newsroom policy tomorrow. Now you might ask, if it's a false charge or probably BS in the first place, why report it at all? Good Q. My A: sometimes the fact that someone is trying to put one over on us is news. 5/

Finally, a personal plea. Don't @ me with what you think is the clever discovery that the "truth sandwich" is misnamed because the truth part is the bread and the lie is the meat so it's really a lie sandwich. Every time I post on this some wiseguy does that and it's annoying. 6/

Thanks for your cooperation.

https://twitter.com/timwindsor/status/1262783185500454912

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