Assessing motivation requires more complex examination and analysis. Despite the incessant skepticism drilled into us by Oliver Stone and The X-Files, having a reason to lie doesn t make one a liar. On the other hand, it doesn t make one a saint, either. Part of the art of research lies in distinguishing different levels of reliability for different components of a piece of information. But a public relations flack, though possibly willing to lie the enamel off his teeth in spinning a story to his client s advantage, would wake up in a cold sweat if he thought he had put the wrong ZIP code on an official press release.
Motivation can change as situations alter.
Well, sometimes you might, actually. If everyone knows an outfit s biases and expects them to lie, sometimes they have to tell the truth just in order to protect their reputation. Trade press, for example, depends for its operating revenues on advertiser support. However, trade press sells those advertisers eyeballs, i.e., readers. Nonetheless, searchers watch and measure.