Robert Reich on the effect of hate speech

Robert Reich, former Sec. of Labor in the Bill Clinton cabinet, now professor at Berkeley and frequent author, had this to say about the effect of inflammatory rhetoric coming from presidential candidates.

"Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media. And the recent inclination of some politicians to use inflammatory rhetoric is contributing to a climate of hate and fear. I'm not suggesting Trump, Carson, Fiorina, or any other presidential candidate is directly to blame for hate crimes erupting across America. But by virtue of their standing as presidential candidates, their words carry particular weight. They have a responsibility to calm people with the truth rather than stir them up with lies. In suggesting that the staff of Planned Parenthood, Muslims, Black Lives Matter protesters, and Mexican immigrants are guilty of venal acts, these candidates are fanning the flames of hate."

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I certainly agree with Reich in principle -- as I almost always do with this progressive policy advocate.   But I would say it a little differently.   I don't think running for president necessarily imposes a responsibility on you to calm people -- or even to tell the truth.

But, for those who don't, journalists have a responsibility to challenge their rhetoric and expose their lies.   Politicians don't, but journalists do. 

Or at least they used to.   I'm not sure how many journalists still believe that, which is one of the problems in modern reporting that seems to put "balanced" reporting above "finding the truth."

Ralph