If the reporter has killed our imagination with his truth, he threatens our life with his lies.

Kraus frames journalism as doubly destructive: even when it is “truthful,” its fact-bound reporting can flatten experience and “kill” imagination by replacing lived complexity with ready-made narratives. Worse, when it turns to falsehood—whether through sensationalism, propaganda, or careless distortion—it becomes actively dangerous, “threaten[ing] our life” by shaping public opinion, inciting conflict, or legitimizing violence. The antithesis (truth/lie; imagination/life) underscores his view that the press does not merely describe reality but manufactures it, with consequences that range from cultural impoverishment to physical harm. The line belongs to Kraus’s broader critique of modern mass media as a moral and political force.