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It's the difference between mistakes and lies too. We all make mistakes, especially under pressure. Equating those with lies is really unhelpful. It also means that when people correct their mistakes it is portrayed as "does u-turn" or "walks back claims", "explaining is losing" etc. Sigh.

yes I know why the press is legally cautious, but you can still assign magnitude to things, as that falls under honest opinion. The magnitude of falsehoods matter, esp. given the false equivocation that Newsroom gives them in the headline - which as you know, lots of readers don't read past

Speak truth to power, unless legal tell us not to.

Your subheading says "As Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins clashed in the NZ Herald leaders debate, a Newsroom fact check finds they both made false claims" I don't know about other people's reading comprehension skills, but I'd have said that was a perfect example of both-sidesing things.

I guess I'd like to see some analysis from the press on what the impact of these 'errors'/'falsehoods' are in terms of perceptions. For example, is Hipkins' mistake about price of cheese in Aus a cause of concern, vs Luxon's mistake about a fiscal hole? What has more significance to the debate etc?

Is it defamatory if it actually is an untruth?

😂😂😂

Both sides-ing it also allows Luxon to duck individual responsibility. 'This guy lies' requires some sort of response in how we treat that guy, either as media or voters. 'Everyone lies' means nothing has to change.