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CNN Live Sunday

Why it's Easy to Tell a Lie

Aired July 15, 2001 - 16:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Call it a fib, a stretch, a massaging of the facts. The truth is, it's simple lying. And it seems more people are getting caught in the act. CNN's Anne McDermott went searching for the truth about why we lie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever see a nose grow?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

MCDERMOTT: But there are lies and there are lies.

You almost expect untruths in Tinseltown and sometimes, stars may not even know they are stretching it, as when Elizabeth Taylor said this time it's forever. No, this time it's forever, no this time, no, this time.

And studios can be very creative, too. This one invented a critic who praised "A Knight's Tale," which puzzled some analysts because of the number of real reviewers.

MARTIN GROVE, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: There would be so many of them that would be so happy to say just about anything that a movie studio wanted just to get their name in the movie ads.

MCDERMOTT: A laughable lie perhaps, and then there are lies to churn one's stomach.

Remember how Susan Smith begged an abductor to return her two boys?

SUSAN SMITH: I want to say to my babies, your mama loves you so much.

MCDERMOTT: Mama of course had already killed them.

Most people will never tell a lie like that, but experts say, every lie diminishes a sense of trust, whether it's lying on a resume, cheating on an exam, or misleading a nation.

RICHARD M. CROOK, 37TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a crook.

MCDERMOTT: Why lie? Well, the dirty little secret of lying is that sometimes you can get away with it.

Michael Josephson, who heads an institute devoted to ethics says people have lost a sense of honor.

MICHAEL JOSEPHSON, JOSEPHSON INSTITUTE: I grew up on, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We haven't heard that kind of rhetoric for a long, long time. The rhetoric today is, look out for number one, get what you can, the only real crime is getting caught.

MCDERMOTT: Very few people think of themselves as liars, but they admit they tell some lies if only to spare people's feelings or..

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To cover my butt.

MCDERMOTT: Experts say lying can be halted. All one has to do is stop weaving those tangled webs, and tell the truth, and lying will end.

Do you believe that?

Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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