Photo credit: R/DV/RS (Creative Commons)

Politicians are the least trusted of all professions in this country. Scandals involving expenses, sex or drugs certainly do nothing to reverse this trend but there is a more omnipresent reason for this rank distrust: what politicians say. Spin, misinformation and downright lies are commonplace in modern politics as votes are fought over tooth and nail. In turn this incomplete information is passed to the electorate, often via the media. Some media outlets then add their own layers of spin, misinformation and lies often through hyperbole and simplification. During the AV referendum in 2011 David Farrell and colleagues found that just 12% of statements made in the print media were backed up with coherent arguments. Of course, print media is …

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