Pearl-clutching journalism dean shares a curious false equivalency

Journalism dean talks about fake news, lies.  (Great Falls Tribune, 2/16/2017)

Speaking of cringe-worthy, particularly the use of 'rebel'.  Once you call it a ‘lie’ you basically alienate most of your audience,” he said. He’d recommend “untruth” or “falsehood” as preferred terms.

OK, Larry, would you recommend use of any of these other terms?

Source:  Merriam-Webster thesaurus (arrow x's and highlights added)

Actually, the alienation is more likely to occur when reporters simply transcribe whatever information they are given, without providing the least bit of context.  

Have you seen this?

And then there's been Trump and his sycophants' bang-on-the-drum-all-day assault on the integrity of the media.

The examples goes on and on and on.

As do these.