Caption: Meme saying “So you mean to tell me influential people signed the pledge?” (Created by blog author)

Did any particularly influential people sign the Pro-Truth Pledge? You bet!

Just go to the webpage for “Public Figures and Organizations” who signed the pledge, and click on the “particularly influential” checkbox. If you want to see only particularly influential officials, you can select “Elected/Appointed Officials and Candidates” in the drop-down menu; if you want other public figures who are particularly influential, select “Public Figures” in the same menu; if you want organizations, well – I’m guessing you know what to do by now.

I know what you’re thinking: what’s our criteria for “particularly influential” public figures and organizations? Included in that category are all elected or appointed officials at the state (regional) level or above, and other public figures and organizations with at least 100,000 combined followers on social media profiles and email lists, or other demonstrable ways of easily influencing 100,000 people.

Since the ability to influence easily 100,000 people is not always obvious, we welcome you to let us know if you think any existing public figure or organization should be in that category. Simply use the contact form to provide clear evidence of how that public figure or organization can easily influence 100,000 people – for example, as the head of an organization with over 100,000 followers – and we will either update the information or ask you for further evidence if needed.

Questions and comments welcomed!

Caption: Image saying “Unfakery,” from the organization founded by the author (Courtesy of the author)

Have you encountered fast food chains where they promise that if you don’t get a receipt for your order that your food is free? Or noticed those signs on the back of company vehicles asking “How’s My Driving? Call 888-DRIVERY To Report”? Why do they do those things? Accountability.

In the case of the restaurant, the completed receipt is a part of procedures that prevent employees from pretending to perform a transaction, but actually pocketing the money. And that sign on the truck provides a mechanism for other drivers to report reckless driving by company drivers. These procedures broadcast to the public (and to the employees) that management holds its people accountable for honesty and safety. It reminds them that someone is monitoring their behavior, and also provides the mechanism for doing so.

As a conservative, I’m very interested in accountability. I want my elected leaders to be accountable; I have elections to help with that. I want corporations and businesses to be accountable; the market and (some) government regulations perform that function. I want government programs to be accountable; oversight and elections help make that possible.

And I also want individuals to be accountable, especially for the information they pass around. The only mechanism we really have to do that is social pressure, and that’s difficult to employ these days.

I deal with fighting fakery online every day, fakery that specifically targets conservatives, and sometimes it really does feel that we’re in a post-truth society.There is plenty of outright fakery for political and financial gain, and that’s bad enough. But there also seems to be an increasing number of people who are willing to interpret information only in the light most favorable to their causes. They spin and deflect and move the goalposts in discussions, with the goal of scoring points against the other side. They frequently and aggressively hold out opinion and supposition as fact. And yet if you asked them, most would probably declare themselves to be honest people.

Part of the problem is that a lot of people are more interested in “winning” than in promoting the truth. You probably recognize this in some of the people you encounter online; it’s a hazard of an increasingly partisan culture. Some of the symptoms might be:

• Labeling opinions as facts
• Sharing unverified information as true
• Only telling the part of a story that’s most favorable to their view
• Refusing to retract or correct false information they’ve shared
• Using excuses like “it’s true enough” or “it’s real even if it isn’t exactly true”
• Failing to challenge the slander of someone with opposing views

Just about everyone has done one of these things, or done something like them. It’s easy to hit the share button on a headline that resonates with us, without reading the article. It’s a pain to get into a fight with an ally over a slanderous story about a political opponent. It’s hard to be fair to the other side of an argument when you’re trying to win that argument.

We can all agree, though, that those behaviors are not at all truth-oriented, and we probably feel a little dirty when we employ them. We might appreciate the short-cut in the short term, but we still know we aren’t upholding truth in those moments.

But what if we could hack our brains towards more accountability? What if we could do what those business owners did? What if we broadcast to the world that we want to hold ourselves accountable, that we’re enlisting the help of others to do it, and providing them a mechanism to do so?

We can. That’s exactly what the Pro-Truth Pledge is – a social hack to hold ourselves more accountable. It’s a public promise that we intend to share, honor, and encourage truth, and that we expect the people we interact with to help us uphold that pledge. And so far, the research says that it works.

And there’s an added benefit for conservatives like me who appreciate accountability: it provides the solid platform from which to hold others accountable. It says to the world “I’m trying to live up to these values myself – I’m not asking you to do anything more than I’m willing to do myself.” There’s a moral authority there that elevates the discussion above the partisan hypocrisy that’s running rampant these days.

I’m absolutely a passionate conservative, eager to advocate for my beliefs and views, and hoping to persuade more people to hear those views and agree with them. I also deal in debunking fakery of all kinds, and my reputation depends on accurately seeking out and defending truth. I’m working to be an even more effective advocate by recommitting myself to an orientation to the truth with the Pro-Truth Pledge. I’m aiming for a reputation as:

• An honest information broker
• A credible and dependable source
• An accountable conservative
• A truth-seeker
• A person who puts the truth over any agenda
• A source people can trust

I believe that people who build accountability into their lives have a better chance of staying on the path they’ve set for themselves. Dieters do better when they are monitored with regular progress checks. Kids do homework when it’s checked, or clean their rooms when they are inspected. We know this, and we behave this way in other aspects of our lives. So read over the behaviors underlined in the pledge, and ask yourself whether you’re willing to put that kind of accountability in writing, whether you’re ready to put that sticker on your social media vehicle. Invite the world to be your accountability partner, and invite others to take the pledge with you.

Caption: Turn sign (Wikimedia Commons)

What would our society be like if we made a radical turn to the truth? What if we moved away from our current post-truth environment, where appeals to emotions and personal beliefs triumph over facts and reason, and instead relied on evidence and logic to determine what we believe and what we do in our public policy?

Sounds impossible, right? A pleasant dream, and nothing but? Let’s stay grounded, you might say, and work with what we got.

Well, the only ways that major change occurred in the past were through dreams about a better future. What kind of things might we expect in this pro-truth future?

Here are three examples of what we can expect.

1) We would see media figures identifying publicly their own biases, examining all aspects of an issue before commenting, and avoiding demonizing those with whom they disagree.

2) We would see ordinary people getting their friends to change their behaviors to fact-check posts before they share them.

3) We would see politicians retracting statements shown to be incorrect.

Dream on, you might say! That’ll never happen.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s already happening through the Pro-Truth Pledge, a research-based intervention shown to be effective by a peer-reviewed study in promoting truth and facts.

For an example of #1 above, consider Brent Hatley, a media professional as senior producer of “The Howard Stern Show” with a verified Twitter account and over 45K followers. He tweeted that the “ProTruthPledge has helped me with my own confirmation bias & it’s really caused me to examine all aspects of an issue before commenting. Last, it’s helped me not demonize those with whom I disagree.”

Caption: Screenshot of Brent Hartley’s tweet

What about #2? Blogger Brian Charles Fleming writes about how he has a friend who posted a falsehood, which he pointed out and asked her to take down. She did, but then she posted it again later, and he reminded her that it was false, and she took it down again. He found the Pro-Truth Pledge, and got her to take it. According to Fleming, “now she makes sure what she posts is true and it has become a discussion topic between us.” Here’s the actual exchange:

Caption: Screenshot of Brian Fleming’s blog post

Let’s round it out with #3, and with two examples this time. A candidate for Congress, Michael Smith, took the Pro-Truth Pledge. He later posted on his Facebook wall a screenshot of a tweet by Donald Trump criticizing minority and disabled children. As he is a congressional candidate, it got a number of shares. However, after being called out on it, he could not find the original tweet in Trump’s feed, and while Trump may have deleted that tweet, the candidate edited his own Facebook post to say that “Due to a Truth Pledge I have taken I have to say I have not been able to verify this post.” He indicated that he would be more careful with future postings:

Caption: Screenshot of Michael Smith’s Facebook post with retraction.

A candidate running for the state house in Arizona, Johny Martin, also took the pledge. He made a misstatement during a public rally, and later posted on Facebook about the misstatement, retracting it and citing the pledge:

Caption: Screenshot of Johny Martin’s Facebook post with retraction.

The pro-truth future is here and now, at least among those making effective use of the Pro-Truth Pledge. While far from all pledge-takers are perfect – witness mistakes made by Smith and Martin – they made a public commitment and are being held accountable.

Clearly, the pledge is helping bring about a pro-truth future and steering us away from our post-truth present. As both research and real life experience shows, it’s an effective intervention, and if we can get many more people to make a true commitment to it, imagine what the future might hold.

Imagine what our public discourse would be like if media professionals admitted their biases, considered all sides, and avoided demonizing their opponents. Imagine what our political system would be like if politicians dedicated themselves to following the 12 behaviors of the pledge and quickly retracted any false statements. Imagine what your life would be like if you could get those friends who keep sharing falsehoods to make a strong promise to avoid such behaviors, and actually carry out their oath.

You can make these dreams a reality by joining the movement to spread the Pro-Truth Pledge far and wide!

Caption: Red cross indicating removal (OpenClipart-Vectors / 27440 images)

The Pro-Truth Pledge Central Coordination Committee (PTP CCC) has revoked the Journalism Reclamation Project’s membership in the Pro-Truth Pledge.

Here’s the scoop. We got a complaint that the Journalism Reclamation Project misled their employees and other organizations in public statements about both JRP’s financial stability and plans in promoting public trust in journalism. We sent an an email to the JRP leader and general address, and the email bounced. We investigated, and found that their website no longer works. Their last LinkedIn update was 4 months ago.

It appears that the organization folded. Thus, the PTP CCC decided to avoid the usual accountability mechanism of an action alert and media release, because the organization is no longer around, and thus the reputational pressure is not relevant. We simply removed it from the public figures page.

Questions and comments welcomed!

Caption: Image with “Truth” on top and “Lie” crossed out on bottom (Geralt/Pixabay)

A recent editorial in the Amarillo Globe-News, a newspaper serving a Texas town of about 200,000, attacked the Pro-Truth Pledge (PTP), and the Texas politicians who took it. Surprisingly, it was written without a byline, thus representing the official opinion of the editorial board of the newspaper itself. Shortly afterward, another Texas newspaper republished it (serving a city of 250,000) and then another one (city of 130,000), all without bylines and representing the official position of the newspapers.

A close reading of the editorial shows that it is poorly written, incoherent, self-contradictory, and hypocritical, twisting itself into knots trying to slam the pledge and Texas politicians who took it. Consider this quote from the editorial:

• There is an old joke that is relevant to today’s editorial – how can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving… People should not make a show of doing something they should be doing anyway. In this case, shouldn’t politicians tell the the truth without having to sign some silly document stating they are pledging to tell the truth? Yes, we know it is completely unrealistic to expect our elected officials to be truthful. We are not living in a fantasy land. However, it just seems a tad absurd for elected officials – and those who want to be elected officials – to sign a document stating they will be truthful. Shouldn’t this be assumed?

This quote claims that: 1) we can’t expect politicians to be truthful; 2) we should assume that politicians are truthful; 3) politicians should not sign a document claiming they will be truthful.

In other words, the editorial argues against all codes of ethics, ranging from the Ten Commandments, to the Better Business Bureau Code of Business Practices, to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (which the editorial writer – being a journalist – presumably signed). If we follow the logic of the editorial, we should assume that people, journalists, and businesses – though they should be ethical – are inherently unethical. Thus, we should disregard any code of ethics to which they commit, and criticize them for committing to it.

In fact, as commenter Dan Bessire points out at the bottom of this editorial, one of the newspapers that published this editorial, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal pledged “to the goals of The Local Media Consortium in preventing fake news.” Given that the newspaper itself made this pledge, it seems pretty hypocritical to condemn the PTP as “some meaningless online form pledging to tell the truth,” as the editorial does.

Notably, the editorial specifically fails to describe the substantial accountability mechanism that underpins the pledge. Unlike some other codes of conduct, the PTP has a clear and specific way of ensuring that politicians and other public figures who take the pledge stick to it. In failing to discuss the accountability mechanism, the editorial writer clearly lies by omission.

Since the editorial contradicts the apparent actions both of the writer, who presumably committed to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, and the newspaper, which definitely committed to The Local Media Consortium, as well as lies by omission, we have to assume a different motivation for the editorial than an honest criticism of the PTP and the politicians who took the pledge.

Note that all the editorials published attacked Beto O’Rourke, whose campaign spans across all of Texas. However, they also attacked politicians in their area who took the pledge: for example, the Amarillo Globe-News editorial attacked Greg Sagan of Amarillo, a candidate for Congress; the Denton Record-Chronicle attacked Texas House of Representatives District 64 candidate Andrew Morris.

These attacks, combined with the hypocrisy of the editorial, can only point to the fact that the PTP is having a real impact in the political sphere. We have already found out that according to studies, after taking the PTP signers tend to behave more truthfully. This editorial shows that the PTP is actually getting the truth-oriented politicians who signed it positive reputational rewards, whether the Republican member of the Texas State Legislature James Earl White, or the Democrat member of US Congress from Texas Beto O’Rourke, and the other 500 other politicians who signed the pledge.

Those who don’t want the truth – and truth-oriented politicians – to get ahead are now waking up and seeing this impact. Thus, they are taking steps to destroy the reputation of the Pro-Truth Pledge in the eyes of the general public.

The fact that they are trying to fight back means we are winning! It’s especially good to see that the editorial is doing a ridiculously poor job of trying to criticize the PTP, because it’s hard to really say bad things about people committing to the truthful behaviors of the pledge.

Still, they are hoping that their readers will not notice the hack nature of this attack. They are hoping that the readers will skim the editorial – without reading deeply – and come away with the impression that the PTP is bad, and politicians who took the PTP are bad.

Fortunately, you can make a difference by getting positive media attention for the PTP using these guidelines, asking your elected representatives to take the PTP using these guidelines, getting signatures for the PTP using these guidelines, starting a local PTP chapter using these guidelines, indicate a general interest in volunteering using this form, and/or making a generous monthly (or at least one-time) tax-deductible gift today to the nonpartisan educational 501(c)3 organization that runs the PTP, Intentional Insights, at this link.

Together, we can continue winning for the truth!