Oh boy. If this article by New York Times Public Editor Arthur Brisbane — which essentially asks if the Times should call out lies — wasn’t on the paper’s site, we’d think it was a parody. But nope! Brisbane really wrote a piece wondering if Times reporters “should challenge ‘facts’ that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.”

Here’s some more:

Another example: on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney often says President Obama has made speeches “apologizing for America,” a phrase to which Paul Krugman objected in a December 23 column arguing that politics has advanced to the “post-truth” stage.

As an Op-Ed columnist, Mr. Krugman clearly has the freedom to call out what he thinks is a lie. My question for readers is: should news reporters do the same?

That sound you hear is everyone, everywhere, screaming “YES!” The last time we checked, a journalist is supposed to always report the facts. That’s not being a “truth vigilante,” as Brisbane calls it. It’s doing your damn job.

Forgive us Tim Tebow, but lord almighty, please give Brisbane a clue.