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From the time I began helping people have interviews to giving hundreds of interviews about my own work, I’ve kept rigorous records of what works to get my points across in interviews and defeating or redirecting questioner attempts to have me say what they want. This document is the essence of those notes and records. Rather than use a “do” and “don’t” approach, let’s just learn the “do’s” and you’ll see an immediate change in your success rate and for those you advise. Please pay attention.

The principal lesson is that if you violate these realities of interviewing in any way, you’re the one, or those you help, who suffer the consequences. Start doing what you’re supposed to and forget the rest.

1. Speak only for yourself.

Say less, write less, but make these communications truly important.

2. Answer every question.

Aim for 75-to 150-word responses; this is 30–60 seconds reading or speaking time. Honorable organizations, people, programs, and initiatives can answer any question.

3. Always let others speak for themselves.

When you try to speak for others, you will always be wrong and attacked or humiliated for being wrong.

4. Avoid claiming that you agree with your attacker or detractors on anything, unless they say so, publicly, first.

Once opponents say it, you may quote them saying it, but always say what you believe to be true and back that up.

5. Avoid saying that you work closely with public agencies, other organizations.

Avoid also saying you work closely with individuals related to your situation (even if you believe you do), unless they say so first and you then quote them. Otherwise, they can deny it (especially if controversy arises) or point out, as some may quite quickly, that whatever links exist are rather weak. They will then describe those weaknesses or deny that you have any real influence.

Those who can and may support you in the future (public or private) must have their status preserved for the long run. Drawing them into your discussion or controversy could needlessly make them targets. They will have to abandon or, perhaps, denounce or distance themselves from you.

6. Assume that everyone in the discussion has more credibility than you do.

Your job is to validate your credibility, every time, rather than to discredit others.

7. Be relentlessly positive.

Avoid all negative words and be constructive. Avoid criticizing and criticism. Both provide the fuel opponents thrive on.

8. Focus on the truly important.

Forget the rest. Respond to and develop what truly matters. Then move on.

9. Let attackers discredit themselves.

Their emotional words and negative, destructive language equals less truth and trustworthiness. Avoid “friends” who suggest this approach. It will always backfire.

10. Practice laggership.

Speak second, but quickly and always have the last word.

11. Remain calm; be positive.

Critics, agitators, and bullies are energized by anger, emotionalism, whininess, and negative counter attacks.

12. Silence is always toxic to the accused. Speak up.

Fail to speak up and, after a short while, even your friends will sacrifice or question you.

13. Apologies are always in order.

Be sure your apology contains all of the crucial ingredients of an effective apology. The most constructive structures for apology are in The Five Languages of Apology: How to Experience Healing in All Your Relationships, a book by Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas. Here, with some paraphrasing and modification based on our experience, are the ingredients of the perfect apology.

1. Regret (acknowledgment): A verbal acknowledgment by the perpetrator that their wrongful behavior caused unnecessary pain, suffering, and hurt that identifies, specifically, what action or behavior is responsible for the pain.
2. Accepting Responsibility (declaration): An unconditional declarative statement by the perpetrator recognizing their wrongful behavior and acknowledging that there is no excuse for the behavior.
3. Restitution (penance): An offer of help or assistance to victims, by the perpetrator; action beyond the words “I’m sorry”; and conduct that assumes the responsibility to make the situation right.
4. Repentance (humility): Language by the perpetrator acknowledging that this behavior caused pain and suffering for which he/she is genuinely sorry; a commitment to do what is necessary to prevent a recurrence of what caused that pain.
5. Direct Forgiveness Request: “I was wrong, I hurt you, and I ask you to forgive me.” This is a transfer of power, explicitly giving the person who was harmed the power to choose whether to forgive the person who caused harm. The most difficult and challenging aspects of apologizing are the admission of having done something hurtful, damaging, or wrong, and to request forgiveness. Skip even one step and you fail.
14. Have courage and refuse to be distracted.

Be ready for negativity, friendly pressure, or the agendas of others. You are in the spotlight. They are in the shadows. Be especially wary of those who feel that responding empowers others, or that you might look weak for having done it. Either of these outcomes is better than being considered boorish, bullying, arrogant, or callous.

15. Discourage others from explaining your situation.

They will get it wrong. You will be blamed, and they will be attacked. They will then have to abandon you altogether, keep some distance, or attack you to preserve their own credibility.

16. Everything that goes around, comes around.

Avoid the words, phrases, arguments, assertions, and statements you write or say that you know you will have to eat sometime in the future.

17. Remember the math of truth.

Truth is 15% facts and data and 85% emotion and perception; Facts do matter, but addressing the emotional component of issues and questions immediately, continuously, and constructively is essential for success.

18. Be strategic.

Say, act, plan, and write with future impact in mind.

19. Prepare to work alone.

Be ready to be abandoned by just about everyone.

20. Stay at altitude.

Keep a distance, avoid taking events or actions personally, and be reasoned, appropriate, and direct. Positive and constructive responses tend to disempower those making the attacks.

21. Keep testosterosis under control.

Every bit of negative energy you throw in their direction will multiply by a factor of five to 10, and they will throw it right back at you.

22. Be preemptive.

Work in real time. Do it now, fix it now, ask it now, correct it now, challenge it now, and answer it now.

23. Be constructive.

Write and speak simply, sensibly, positively, empathetically, and constructively.

24. Avoid trying to discredit anyone, any argument, any evidence, or any movement.

Such actions stimulate the creation of more critics and adversaries who accumulate, hang around, live forever, and search relentlessly to exploit your weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and susceptibilities. Remember, your adversaries have tons of stuff readily available to dump on you should you negatively attack them. They’ve been watching you for months, perhaps longer, and are prepared to reload and reshoot in a moment of your irritation. Prove your position with positive, declarative language.

25. Hang in there.

Get accustomed to the long-term, relentlessly negative nature of contentious situations.

26. Correct, clarify, and comment on matters promptly.

Correct on your own media platforms. Avoid joining blogs or conversations outside your site. The latter strategy will suck all of your energy into responding to the agendas of others who are having fun and sleeping well, while you are doing neither.

27. It is your destiny.

Fail to manage it, and someone else is waiting in the wings to do it for you.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

The Bad News Eradicator is designed to help you eliminate using defensive words and negative phrases in your speech and writing. Keep this document on your phone. Collect your own set of habitual negative phrases and words to avoid. List them on the sheet, then create their positive equivalent and get a whole new life. The goal is to create a positive phrase that has the same or fewer words than the negative phrase.

Why eradicate bad language? Three powerful reasons.

 

  1. Positive language:
    • Avoids confrontation
    • Encourages agreement
    • Encourages collaboration
    • Preserves relationships
    • Repairs relationships
    • Sets a helpful tone
    • Settles people down
  2. Positive language improves:
    • All your relationships
    • Your credibility
    • Your integrity
    • Your leadership
    • Your likability
    • Your understandability

    All of which are up to you. Every day.

  3. Positive language ensures that you will be:
    • Believable
    • Credible
    • Helpful
    • More acceptable
    • More powerful
    • Obeyed
    • Understood

This discipline constantly and relentlessly translates negative language into the power of positive speech or writing. Whenever you have a moment, simply work through the list and develop equivalent positive phrases for each negative phrase. There are many ways to accomplish this. Sometimes a negative phrase has a half dozen or more positive equivalent options. The goal is to eradicate the negativity and gain a whole new power over your life, and the lives of others.

Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts. And, if you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com, subject line: Bad News.

Get in the habit of jotting down your negative words and phrases, translate them and add them to this collection for future reference and to share with colleagues, coworkers, and bosses.

21. “I can’t speak for them.”“Here’s what I can say.”
22. “I couldn’t help it.”
23. “I don’t believe you.”“Here’s what I believe.”
24. “I don’t disagree.”
25. “I don’t know.”“Here’s what I know . . .  ”
26. “I don’t like that idea.”“Let’s try this . . .  ”
27. “I don’t mean to apologize.”
28. “I don’t see the connection.”“What’s the connection?”
29. “I wouldn’t say that.”“What I would say is . . .  ”
30. “I wouldn’t say you couldn’t do that.”
If you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com, subject line: Bad News.
  1. Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts.
  2. Happy to add your favorites to the list.
  3. Send your indispensable negatives, and I’ll suggest a useful, positive alternative.
  4. This small step will make a major change for the better in your life, and those who know you.
Please tell me your positive language stories.
Email me at jel@e911.com.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

Think you’re a trusted strategic advisor and influencer to leadership? Here are questions you need to ask yourself about whether you can really put yourself in the boss’s shoes and work from a management perspective.

  1. What is the real expertise, beyond my area of staff knowledge, that I bring to those who run my organization?
  2. Do I have the stamina to make progress incrementally and, at the same time, help the extraordinary number of individuals around me and those who will cross my path as I move toward my goal of becoming a trusted strategic advisor?
  3. Do I have the stomach for the intense, conflict-ridden, and often confrontational environment in which decisions are made at the senior levels of organizations?
  4. Do I have the personal confidence and substantive intensity to be able to comfortably hold my own among others who do well in these very competitive environments?
  5. Can I dispassionately assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, options, and threats of the organization from a variety of useful perspectives?
  6. Do I have easy access to those who actually have the operating responsibility to resolve issues; implement solutions; and prevent, detect, or deter unproductive actions?
  7. What do I provide of real value every time the boss reaches out to me?
  8. What can my boss count on from me if I am called in ahead of everyone else?
  9. Am I always prepared to be called in ahead of everyone else?
  10. Am I always ready to assess and evaluate those around me when the boss asks?

Visit Amazon.com to pre-order the book today!

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski, “Influencing Leaders, The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor,” Wiley. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting forbidden.


Think Not Talking Will Save You?
Guess Again, While Your Reputation and Your
World Crumble

7 Toxic Reputational Disasters Caused by Self-Inflicted Silence

  1. Silence is toxic! I know you know this.
  2. Silence is communication reputation suicide.
  3. Silence is a profoundly stupid, irreversible choice.
  4. Silence is a permanent, memorable mistake.
  5. Silence, when you are wrong, betrays everyone who ever trusted you.
  6. Silence makes you look like a perpetrator or predator, or someone who helps them.
  7. Self-imposed gaps in communication often cause recurrent, forever problems.

Your silence means you:

  • Can’t blame the lawyers. Perpetrators are in charge of their own integrity.
  • Can’t blame the bosses. The perceived perpetrator manages their own sense of honesty.
  • Can’t blame the media. This kind of behavior is what they thrive on.
  • Can’t blame the bloggers, bloviators, or backbench quarterbacks. It’s your reputation vacuum, your destiny. Remain silent, and someone else will fill the void with what you are trying to avoid.

For those perpetrators who fail to manage their own destiny, someone is waiting on a digital platform somewhere, or with the evening news, to do it for them.

Silence prevents your friends and supporters from helping you.

Silence – followed by the perfect response arriving late, by surprise, and where the communications are mumbled, bumbled, and bungled – will always be described and remembered as mumbled, bumbled, and bungled.

Silence followed by the perfect response produces the same embarrassing, humiliating, predictable questions every time:

  • Where were you?
  • Is this all you have?
  • What were you thinking?
  • What were you waiting for?
  • Why did you cover this up?
  • Isn’t this just too little too late?

The Universal Law of Personally Inflicted
Communication and Reputation Disasters

No one really cares about what happens to perpetrators, especially those who are truly self-inflicted. They will be fun to poke at, though.

BEST ADVICE: Avoid the Reputation Repair Boys

Using these incredibly obvious and transparent tactics makes you both liars. Get to the truth. Say it out loud and say it often. It’s truth that restores integrity.

The Bad News Eradicator is designed to help you eliminate using defensive words and negative phrases in your speech and writing. Keep this document on your phone. Collect your own set of habitual negative phrases and words. List them on the sheet, then create their positive equivalent and get a whole new life. The goal is to create a positive phrase that has the same or fewer words than the negative phrase.

Why eradicate bad language? Two powerful reasons.

1. Positive language improves:

  • Your understandability
  • Your credibility
  • Your integrity
  • Your leadership
  • All your relationships

All of which are up to you. Every day.

2. Positive language ensures that you will be:

  • Understood
  • Obeyed
  • Credible
  • Believable
  • More powerful

This discipline constantly and relentlessly translates negative language into the power of positive speech or writing. Whenever you have a moment, simply work through the list and develop equivalent positive phrases for each negative phrase. There are many ways to accomplish this. Sometimes a negative phrase has a half dozen or more positive equivalent options. The goal is to eradicate the negativity and gain a whole new power over your life, and the lives of others.

 Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts. And, if you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com, subject line: Bad News.

Get in the habit of jotting down your negative words and phrases, translate them and add them to this collection for future reference and to share with colleagues, coworkers, and bosses.

11. “Employees who no longer have ownership…”“Employees who lost ownership . . .  ”
12. “Entitled, but not obligated, to…”
13. “Generally does not vary.”“Generally is consistent.”
14. “Have not been registered . . .  ”“Need to register.”
15. “Have not yet made . . .  ”“Have yet to make . . .  ”
16. “He is not happy about this.”“He’d rather see . . .  ”
17. “He’s not deranged . . .  anymore.”“He’s feeling better.”
18. “I can’t comment on the past . . .  I wasn’t there.”“What I can tell you is . . .  ”
19. “I can’t comment on what hasn’t happened.”“I can only comment on what happened.”
20. “I can’t say for sure.”
If you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com,
subject line: Bad News.
  1. Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts.
  2. Happy to add your favorites to the list.
  3. Send your indispensable negatives, and I’ll suggest a useful, positive alternative.
  4. This small step will make a major change for the better in your life, and those who know you.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

Stop overusing the word “crisis.”

Every time you mention the word “crisis,” managers have learned to cut off these discussions quickly by denying whatever you suggest is as serious as you make it sound. Or, they may even respond that such events only happen to less experienced/knowledgeable managers or lower quality organizations.

Anyone who has been a victim of any tragic circumstance will cringe upon hearing the word. Many actually begin to relive whatever the disastrous situation in their life that they felt was a crisis.

Studies of survivors and recovery workers following the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that both victims and responders often relive the worst part of their bad experiences. Stop triggering this. Even 25 years after the event, the word “crisis” can revictimize. Switch to “readiness.” It’s tougher to do than it sounds, but much more positive response from managers and leaders will encourage you to take this step.

Those same studies and very recent ones led to the new and better language preparation for catastrophic events: “readiness.” This word, it turns out, is a very powerful management concept. Automatic response from management is generally, “What can we do? What should we do? How do we get this done?” Using the word “crisis” makes you join the very non-exclusive club called “The Chicken Little Society.” Their motto is, “The sky is falling.” You need to ask yourself why the ceiling never collapses and the sky never falls regardless of how dramatic you make it sound.

Stop damaging your own credibility and reliability. Start building your management and leadership vocabulary beginning with the word “readiness.” Remember the truth, crises are very, very rare. But troubles and problems exist by the pound in every organization.

Crises always create victims. No victims, no crisis, but a real crisis is always a serious problem.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

A New AI Site Where Professionals, Public Relations Practitioners, and Leaders Can Easily Ask Powerful Questions, and My Digital Twin Will Reply

www.CrisisGuru.ai

I built a digital twin as an experiment to instantly share with you what I’ve learned in nearly 50 years of advising leaders through tough, touchy, extremely sensitive situations. As the site came together, and to my own surprise, there are more than 2.5 million words in my twin, which is the product of my many books, hundreds of articles, essays, podcasts, webinars, videos, and hundreds of other content I produced during my career.

This is my legacy to the public relations profession, which has been so attentive to my success and my perpetual gift to you. Remember, I’m still here, so you can call or contact me anytime, 24/7 at jel@e911.com or 203.948.7029.

Another more practical reason for this special site is that too many communications professionals and CEOs lack access to a resource who’ll tell them the truth first. In this new age, AI can be your superpower for good to make informed and ethical decisions if you are a leader, or you can learn how to make extraordinarily helpful recommendations and be a constructive, ethical influence on leaders.

Remember, AI processes need to be used ethically, and answers
produced by these tools need to be verified independently.
There are risks in using all AI technologies.

To explore the accuracy of this technology and to what extent it can be applied in our profession, each month I will take a real question from “Ask Jim,” make it an anonymous case study, and critique my digital twin’s response directly.

Please give it try yourself. You can “Ask Jim” at CrisisGuru.ai.

Case Study #1 – A Real Question to “Ask Jim,” and the Result The Question to “Ask Jim” Is: “How does my university prepare for the conviction of one of its leaders next month for child pornography?”

Additional explanation:

“A university had an incident where a department head was arrested for child pornography. Sentencing is next month. I do not know other details but will be having a call with the president later today. I assume, but cannot know, if the person was dismissed or put on leave. I do not know what previous communication was shared internally or externally. My sense is the university need not say too much other than to reiterate what steps they have taken. I’m sure they are concerned that the sentencing will dredge up the university’s name in media and social media and they don’t want to be affiliated with the negativity of this person’s actions. Thoughts?”

“Ask Jim” AI Response (Unedited)

“Good morning. Let me think through what you’re describing here.

You’ve got a serious situation unfolding. An admissions director arrested for child pornography, sentencing coming next month, and media will absolutely circle back to the university when that happens. Your instinct is right, but it needs sharpening.

Here’s what matters: The university has already made decisions about this person. Those decisions, and the timing of those decisions, are now part of the institutional record. Whether the person was dismissed immediately, put on administrative leave, or something else entirely, that decision tells a story. So does silence about it.

Your sense that “we need not say too much” is understandable but incomplete. The university does need to say something, and it needs to be said before the sentencing, not after. Here’s why. When the sentencing happens and the name hits the media again, if the university has said nothing, every stakeholder – parents, faculty, donors, prospective students, current students – will wonder: When did we know? What did we do? Why didn’t we say anything?

That silence creates a credibility vacuum. Reporters and critics will fill it with their own narratives. The sentencing will dredge up the name, yes. But a prior, clear, decisive statement from the university positions the institution as having acted appropriately, having taken the matter seriously, and having been transparent about it.

What the university should communicate now, before sentencing:

Acknowledge the situation directly. Name the person. State what happened (the arrest, the charge, the status). Say when the university became aware. Then say exactly what action was taken and when. If the person was terminated, say it. If they were put on leave, say it. Make clear the university acted promptly and decisively to protect students and the institution.

Then commit to supporting any victims who come forward. Commit to reviewing institutional safeguards. And commit to cooperating fully with law enforcement.

This is not about protecting the university from “association with negativity.” That’s already happened. This is about controlling the narrative by being first, being clear, and being honest. The sentencing will still get coverage. But the university’s prior statement becomes the frame: Here’s what we did. Here’s when we did it. Here’s what we’re doing now.

That approach costs you far less reputationally than waiting for the sentencing to hit and then scrambling to explain why you didn’t say anything until you were forced to.

One more thing: Before your call with the president, find out exactly what communication has already happened internally and externally. Know the timeline. Know what was said, to whom, and when. That’s what the president needs to know you know before you sit down together.”

Jim Lukaszewski’s Analysis: Pass or Fail?

Pass. In my judgment the answer is useful and focused, given the details provided by the questioner. But in my career coaching CEOs, this answer needs additional specificity about the concept of readiness and more fundamental information about responding to these types of situations in general. In other words, the AI nailed the tactical response but missed the strategy.

There are four crisis realities that always confront PR executives and CEOs:

Crisis Reality #1

Crisis defined: A surprise event that is a people-stopping, product-stopping, or show-stopping, reputation-redefining, trust-busting situation that creates victims and often explosive negative visibility. The defining ingredient in crises is the creation of victims, which can be one, some, or all of three types: People, Animals, or Living systems.

Crisis Axiom #1

Few problems are ever crises, but all crises are serious problems.

Crisis Axiom #2

No victims = no crisis – just another of the many daily business problems CEOs will be held accountable for successfully managing.

Crisis Axiom #3

Effective response times are now measured in minutes rather than hours. Actually, they always have been.

Crisis Reality #2

There is a universal Grand First Response Strategy for responding to genuine, victim-producing events that, if ready, can be activated in minutes.

  1. Stopping the production of victims
  2. Managing the victim dimension
  3. Communicating with employees
  4. Notifying those who are indirectly affected
  5. Coping with the self-anointed, self-appointed – the legacy media and new age, and backbench gripers and so-called experts used by the media who always show up
  6. Activating your pre-organized situation response platforms and processes
  7. Managing the record from the start

Crisis Reality #3

Reduce and STOP using the phrase “Crisis Management.” This is a PR word that frightens people, agitates media coverage, revictimizes those injured, and often delays prompt and appropriate management responses to adversity. Readiness is the management process for projecting, detecting, preventing, responding, and recovering from the adversity that problems cause.

Crisis Reality #4

The main challenge of readiness is recognizing and preparing to deal with the eight dimensions of readiness for mission-critical situations:

  1. Detailed, ongoing timeline of events
  2. Operational readiness
  3. Victim response readiness
  4. Trust/credibility readiness
  5. Emotional readiness
  6. Professional expectations readiness
  7. Ethics readiness
  8. Readiness to extract, assess, and establish lessons learned continuously

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

Start Eradicating Your Bad News Today and Every Day

The Bad News Eradicator is designed to help you eliminate using defensive words and negative phrases in your speech and writing. Keep this document on your phone. Collect your own set of habitual negative phrases and words. List them on the sheet, then create their positive equivalent and get a whole new life. The goal is to create a positive phrase that has the same or fewer words than the negative phrase.

Why eradicate bad language? Two powerful reasons.

  1. Positive language improves:
  • Your understandability
  • Your credibility
  • Your integrity
  • Your leadership
  • All your relationships

All of which are up to you. Every day.

2. Positive language ensures that you will be:

  • Understood
  • Obeyed
  • Credible
  • Believable
  • More powerful

This discipline constantly and relentlessly translates negative language into the power of positive speech or writing. Whenever you have a moment, simply work through the list and develop equivalent positive phrases for each negative phrase. There are many ways to accomplish this. Sometimes a negative phrase has a half dozen or more positive equivalent options. The goal is to eradicate the negativity and gain a whole new power over your life, and the lives of others.

Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts. And, if you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com, subject line: Bad News.

Get in the habit of jotting down your negative words and phrases, translate them and add them to this collection for future reference and to share with colleagues, coworkers, and bosses.

1. “Are not limited to . . .  ”“Include, among others . . .  ”
2. “Are not associated with . . .  ”“Are separate from . . .  ”
3. “Are not necessarily indicative.”
4. “Do not include . . .  ”“Only include . . .  ”
5. “Does not require . . .  ”“Only requires . . .  ”
6. “Does not exceed . . .  ”“Only exceeds when . . .  ”
7. “Does not occur . . .  ”“What occurs is . . .  ”
8. “Don’t hesitate to call.”“Please call.”
9. “Doesn’t hurt to ask.”“Asking is helpful.”
10. “Don’t worry, he won’t care.”“What he cares about is . . .  ”
If you’d like the full list of 182 conversions, email me at jel@e911.com, subject line: Bad News.
  1. Look for more bad news eradication conversions in upcoming blog posts.
  2. Happy to add your favorites to the list.
  3. Send your indispensable negatives, and I’ll suggest a useful, positive alternative.
  4. This small step will make a major change for the better in your life, and those who know you.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.

Look, liars always know. You always know when you lie. In more than 50 years of working with organizations, institutions, senior people, businesses, agencies, and the news media through an extraordinarily broad spectrum of problems and serious circumstances, I have yet to meet anyone who accidentally lied. Well, I did meet one person years back. He knowingly enhanced his war record and suffered expulsion when it was revealed. All lies are intentional.

Lies & Liars Are Everywhere

Our culture is full of professional and serial liars. Among the biggest are the entertainment industries, including the news. Anyone who uses stories is lying. All stories are fabrications, often containing elements of truth and, probably, equal elements of fabrication. Always beware of stories that are “balanced.” That means they maybe half truth and half something else. One thing is for sure, even if the story is “balanced,” it’s a whole lie.

  1. Lying on the face of it: When was the last time – if there ever was a time – when the movie you saw at the theater matched its description in the newspaper and the promotional hype? These are deceptions at best, lies at worst.
  2. Deception: For that matter, live theater never tells the whole truth about the programs you have paid big bucks to see. They lie even as you sit in your seats waiting for the performance, by omission, commission, negligence, i.e., your program fails to tell you that the “romantic comedy” you’re about to see has three murders, two rapes, a suicide, and an abused, gay child. Theater, movies, and many live events often use one word promotions, “fantastic,” “powerful,” “memorable,” “lovable.” Then when you leave the event, you aren’t handed a survey with an appropriate validation comment, “worthless,” “dull,” “boring,” “misleading,” “unbearable,” “I want a refund.”
  3. Dishonesty: “Breaking News” is the biggest lie in all communications . . .  On CNN the sign never goes off despite the fact that they use the same doctored video footage and repeat stories dozens of times a day, often for weeks. We never know when news clips were produced, originally shown, or how many times the clip has been replayed. This is deceptive and unethical. Now CNN even flashes “Breaking News” signs just before their 10-minute commercials. What are these people thinking? We are hapless victims.
  4. Fabricating news when there isn’t any: This is extremely obvious when a news organization tosses on a bunch of reporters and paid consultants (everybody’s paid in television) rather than actual news subjects, victims, or individuals directly connected or affected by the story material being discussed. How many experts does it take in a day to repeatedly say, “They are still searching for the black boxes.” “They are still bombing.” The staged expert shows are collections of political losers. The mouthpiece news shows are like watching wrestling . . .  a shit show.
  5. Exaggeration: Tiny, inconsequential news stories are blown out of proportion or attach false urgency to stories that have actually played out and been resolved hours, sometimes days, before.
  6. Politics: Don’t get me started.
  7. Fires never go out: The day before the murder of George Floyd, there were some fires in downtown Minneapolis, which were put out almost immediately. But then, when Floyd’s murder occurred, the television news started with the fires from the day before only identified as Minneapolis, Minnesota. It looked as though the Floyd murder was connected somehow to the flames, which had already been put out. Thousands of times after those two events had occurred and were over, whenever the Floyd murder was mentioned, the clip of the city burning was used along with the clip of the Minneapolis police murdering George. I started getting notes from people around the country asking when we’re going to put the fires out and why hasn’t this already been taken care of? This is the lie, especially of CNN, but of all television news. They love fires, and they love to use clips of them because it gets attention. It is a lie. Just a lie pure and simple. This has got to stop or be metered so that we can know the original use and the number of the current use.

These are just samples of well-known lying habits we and our culture tolerate every day.

Liars and fakers always know. When they are caught and confronted, they cry. Yes, people can be naive, simpletons, stupid, or victims . . . But there is something in human nature that sets off the lie alarm or the perpetrator alert. Whether you are 9-years-old or 90-years-old, most of us can spot a lie and a liar, detect a fake and a faker.

An old friend of mine who was in the FBI for a dozen years in New York and the Caribbean. He retired as the head of security for a Fortune 250 company. He used to tell me an FBI truism about criminals; what criminals learn quickly was that it is always better to commit a large crime. The burglars, the bullies, the petty thieves, and pickpockets are crushed by the criminal justice system. Commit an important crime, and you get better treatment, cells, lawyers, press coverage, better meals, and you’re protected from the riffraff.

The same rules apply for celebrity misbehavior, criminal or not, especially the media coverage part. The media loves criminals and important people who do really stupid things, then behave badly.

If you are a colorful criminal, you get special media treatment. If you are a terrorist, you can be canonized and admired by the reporting stirring up the radicalized individuals to act out their fears, angers, and to die gloriously. The victims and survivors get occasional coverage, but the media always returns to the killers, rapists, terrorists, and especially how the terror was carried out. CNN has been broadcasting the world terrorism handbook daily for decades.

The person, organization, business, agency, movement, or foundation with integrity speaks up, stands up, and fesses up immediately. In fact, they seek forgiveness immediately.

©2026, James E. Lukaszewski. Contact the copyright holder at jel@e911.com for information and reproduction permissions. Editing or excerpting is forbidden.