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From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/fake-news-hillary-clinton-cameron-harris.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-newsMr. Harris started by crafting the headline: BREAKING: Tens of thousands of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse. It made sense, he figured, to locate this shocking discovery in the very city and state where Mr. Trump had highlighted his rigged meme.
I had a theory when I sat down to write it, recalled Mr. Harris, a 23-year-old former college quarterback and fraternity leader. Given the severe distrust of the media among Trump supporters, anything that parroted Trumps talking points people would click. Trump was saying rigged election, rigged election. People were predisposed to believe Hillary Clinton could not win except by cheating.
Contacted by a reporter who had discovered an electronic clue that revealed his secret authorship of ChristianTimesNewspaper.com, he was wary at first, chagrined to be unmasked.
This topic is rather sensitive, Mr. Harris said, noting that he was trying to build a political consulting business and needed to protect his reputation. But eventually he agreed to tell the story of his foray into fake news, a very part-time gig that he calculated paid him about $1,000 an hour in web advertising revenue. He seemed to regard his experience with a combination of guilt about having spread falsehoods and pride at doing it so skillfully.
I had a theory when I sat down to write it, recalled Mr. Harris, a 23-year-old former college quarterback and fraternity leader. Given the severe distrust of the media among Trump supporters, anything that parroted Trumps talking points people would click. Trump was saying rigged election, rigged election. People were predisposed to believe Hillary Clinton could not win except by cheating.
Contacted by a reporter who had discovered an electronic clue that revealed his secret authorship of ChristianTimesNewspaper.com, he was wary at first, chagrined to be unmasked.
This topic is rather sensitive, Mr. Harris said, noting that he was trying to build a political consulting business and needed to protect his reputation. But eventually he agreed to tell the story of his foray into fake news, a very part-time gig that he calculated paid him about $1,000 an hour in web advertising revenue. He seemed to regard his experience with a combination of guilt about having spread falsehoods and pride at doing it so skillfully.
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From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece (Original Post)
Sancho
Jan 2017
OP
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)1. Sociopath. eom
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)2. Yeah, but this is kind of good news
It seems like *everybody* is becoming aware that you can make a lot of money with fake news sites. I think the more people who create these sites, the less the dummies among us will believe in them. It will take time, but imo the era of the fake news site is reaching its zenith, maybe already has, and will be going into a decline rather than continuing to be a problem.
Skittles
(153,164 posts)3. repuke whore
Nick Otean
(26 posts)4. Why is Scott Shane calling fake news a "masterpiece"?
That's why I don't click on NYT links.