It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you.
(Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5)

When you aren’t writing under your own name, the boundaries of honesty aren’t quite the same. You aren’t being hired to say what you believe, but to put someone else’s ideas into words. It isn’t dishonest as such to say things which you don’t personally believe are true, but you don’t have a license to lie. Where’s the boundary you can’t cross without becoming dishonest?

Advocacy vs. deception

The slope is slippery, so I stay well back from the brink. I’m willing to present a case for a conclusion which isn’t clearly false, even if I have doubts about it. For instance, I see no ethical problem with writing an article that says cloud-based VoIP is best on one day, then an article the next day saying an on-premises IP PBX is better. Both are true under some circumstances. However, I won’t write an article claiming an IP PBX is illegal — at least, not until I learn that some government has actually outlawed it.

I won’t write a piece arguing for a position that I think is wrong in an important way, even if there are some legitimate arguments for it. For instance, I think that raising tariffs to reduce trade deficits is profoundly stupid, as I wrote here. If I accepted such an assignment, I’d undermine my integrity and encourage harmful practices.

Actually, there are some circumstances where I might write such an article. If someone hired me to present the strongest case for tariffs, as part of a research project or an educational case study rather than an advocacy piece, I’d have no problem with it. In such cases, I wouldn’t be saying “This is right,” but “Understand the case that can be made for it.”

On one occasion, I wrote an article on Internet marketing. One point I made was that buying lists of email addresses is stupid and unethical. The customer wanted me to change the article to recommend buying lists, because they sold lists. I refused to do anything more for that customer. I don’t work for spammers, and I certainly won’t tell anybody that buying spam lists is a reasonable thing to do.

Can ghosts be honest?

Some people would say ghostwriting is inherently dishonest. Someone is putting their own name on words which they didn’t write. Celebrity autobiographies are the best-known example. The celebrities list themselves as the author, with perhaps an “as told to” credit, or perhaps no mention of the real author at all. But I don’t see this as deception. Not all celebrities are good writers. It’s a special skill. As long as the book expresses what the titular author wanted to say, it doesn’t matter that they hired someone else to put it into words.

The book may itself be dishonest, but that’s a separate issue. Celebrity biographies aren’t in my skill set, but I wouldn’t condemn anyone for ghostwriting an accurate biography and letting the subject claim authorship. The problem is that there’s a continuum between presenting oneself in the best possible light and fulsome self-promotion. If I had such a job, how much bull would I be willing to throw before quitting in disgust?

I prefer tech subjects. Their facts are generally clear-cut.

Selfish honesty

I follow this policy for my own sake. Admittedly, I’ve never been tested with a five-figure contract to write deceptions. But if I accepted it, the person I’d be damaging most is myself. What I am is more important than how much money I have. If I were a rich liar, I’d be a liar. There would be no reason for anyone to believe anything I said. I’d be letting other people redefine reality for me. Besides, a customer that wants me to lie for them won’t hesitate to lie to me.

I value myself too much to toss what I am away in exchange for cash. If I do business with you, you get my standards as well as my skill with words. Hiring a professional liar is bad business.