From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone. A couple of weeks ago, watching the political media chase their tails,

we asked linguist George Lakoff for guidance on how to report on the erroneous emissions,

whether by Twitter or mouth, of Donald

J. Trump. In his first week in office, the nation's capital shook under a fusillade of flimflam.

So we tried out Lakoff's prescriptions on one recent presidential tweet.

Lakoff says you cover his tweets by first not covering his tweet.

You begin by telling the truth and giving the evidence for that truth.

So here's the truth. This past November, the United States held a free and fair election

in which Donald Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes,

but won the Electoral College by 74 votes, thereby winning the presidency.

Then mention his tweet point out that that contradicts the truth.

Wednesday's tweet,

I will be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud, including those registered to vote in two states,

those who are illegal, and even those registered to vote who are dead, and many for a long time.

Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures.

The truth is that voter fraud is virtually non-existent. In one study,

law professor Justin Levitt found 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast. Even members

of the GOP agree, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. I've seen no evidence to that effect,

and I've made that very, very clear. And Trump's own campaign has argued that,

quote, all available evidence

suggests that the 2016 general election

...