A piece called “Confessions of a Fake News Writer,” by someone using the name Winston Wordsworth, recently came to my attention. You can look it up if you want; I’m not giving this scumbag any “link juice.” He says in the article that he currently accepts money to write lies, so there’s no strong reason to accept anything he says as true. But by Russell’s Paradox, if he’s lying, he’s telling us the truth when he says he lies. And there must be people like this. They deserve to be spat upon.
Winston says he’s “prostituting myself out.” That’s an insult to prostitutes, who mostly deliver honest value for money.
He writes: “I know it’s shameful. For every article I’ve written that is worthy of an audience, I’ve produced five that make me feel like stabbing myself in the eye with a large pointed instrument. I can’t look at them now.” Much good that hand-wringing does. He can’t look at them, but he can write more of them and cheerfully accepts the money.
He knows the harm he is doing. He describes a case where he wrote exaggerated and fabricated claims about the benefits of marijuana. He admits that “we published unfounded medical claims that we knew would be read by the public, including vulnerable people, even though we knew it was unfounded and misleading.” He mentions “curing cancer” as one of those benefits, so people may have died thanks to his work.
He ends by dumping the blame on the reader. “I’m not exactly on the moral high ground, but hear me out: Nothing will change until readers actively change their reading behavior online — by refusing to read or share news by disreputable sites or by paying for quality editorial that doesn’t rely on advertising.” True, but that’s like a burglar saying, “Nothing will change until people put better locks on their doors.” I’m following his advice by not linking to his article.
You can’t stop fake news by refusing to write it, but you can leave the people who push it a little poorer. For every honest and competent writer who won’t touch that work, the fake news publishers will have to pay a little more to get a willing liar and will get poorer quality.
As I state at the top of my homepage, “Words are the most powerful things on Earth.” Writers have a serious responsibility for the words they deliver to the public. “I needed the money” is no excuse. Liars like “Winston Wordsworth” are contemptible, and none of their apologies are worth a cent unless they stop.