Recruiters, by the way, know this well. If I get fired from three jobs but I only report that during that period I taught dance lessons to toddlers, I am not lying. I am merely telling the part of the story that I want to tell. No one can tell every part of every story. The details are infinite. But in this case, the fact that I left off the details most important to the recruiter makes the recruiter feel like it’s lying. But it’s not. I’m telling my version of the story.

The military academies have a very clear definition of lying. If you say something to convey a false impression, either by leaving out pertinent facts, or by quibbling about words (for example, what the word “is” means), then you’re lying.

But then, those standards are part of an honor code. Honor, as in honest. And this miserable excuse for a reporter fails the honesty test badly.

Except is it mildly amusing to hear one of them, while defending lying, admit that our journalists are prone to do it.