The New York Times has called out President Trump for telling lies. The Washington Post, like the Wall Street Journal, has opted for words like “false” or “falsehood” instead.
The Post’s top editor, Marty Baron, explained why in an interview with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg on Tuesday at Recode’s Code Media conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point, Calif.
“I think we should call things false when we know they’re false ... and we have,” Baron said. But using the word lie “does suggest that you know [the person] knew it was false” and said it anyway.
“Absent evidence of that,” Baron said, don’t expect the Washington Post to use the L word in reporting about the current administration.
The paper will need proof that Trump knew what he said was false and said it anyway. And that hasn’t happened — “not yet” at least, Baron said.
Baron is perhaps best known as the one-time editor of the Boston Globe when it won a Pulitzer for its investigation into the Catholic Church’s sexual molestation scandal. This work was the basis for the Academy Award’s 2016 Best Picture nominee, “Spotlight,” in which Baron was played by Liev Schreiber.
He’s been the top editor at the Washington Post since late 2012. Seven months later, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the paper for $250 million.
Watch his full interview below.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
