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& #39;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& #39;s no clear evidence that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, protects against Coronavirus. Donald Trump said today he& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;s really a lie sandwich. Every time I post on this some wiseguy does that and it& #39;s annoying. 6/