Just say 'no' to politicians who stoke and exploit our fears | Barry Glassner, Seattle Times Newspaper

It's time for the American public to take measures to improve the poisoned political climate, writes guest columnist Barry Glassner. Make the fear-mongering electioneers pay for their misdeeds in the only way that counts. Don't give them your vote.

Glassner recommends, in this excellent column:

The media have a key part to play. Kudos to media resources like factcheck.org that provide good nonpartisan information for separating fact from fiction. But news organizations can do more. Reporters ought to make as much of candidates' fear-inducing and false claims (while debunking them, of course) as they do of the other campaign-trail happenings. Rather than just report outlandish stump-speech claims by candidates, tell us more about their accuracy and the motives behind them — and call the candidates out for assertions that can be proved untrue.

Barry Glassner is president of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, and author of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things."