Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator (Summary)
What if the 'controversial' movie poster you saw defaced on the news was actually vandalized by the movie's own marketing director? What if the outraged emails leaked to a popular blog were also written by him? Ryan Holiday did exactly that, and it's just one of the many tricks he used to prove a terrifying point: the media doesn't just report the news, it's a system that can be easily, and cheaply, manipulated.
The Lie Starts Small and Climbs the Ladder
Holiday's core strategy involves planting a false or manipulated story on a small, insignificant blog. Larger, more reputable outlets then pick it up, citing the smaller blog, giving the lie an air of legitimacy as it moves 'up the chain.'
To create buzz for a client, Holiday would email a juicy but unverified tip to a low-level gossip blog. Once it was published, he would pitch the story to a slightly bigger blog, saying, 'Did you see what [Small Blog] reported?' This was repeated until major outlets like Gawker or even traditional news channels were reporting on a story that originated from nothing.
Blogs Are an Engine of Perpetual Outrage
The business model of most online media is driven by page views, which are maximized by triggering strong emotional reactions like anger and schadenfreude. This incentivizes bloggers to publish sensational, unverified, and often misleading headlines.
When marketing the movie 'I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,' Holiday created fake protest groups and vandalized his own billboards. He knew the resulting 'controversy' would be irresistible bait for blogs, which covered the outrage for free, generating millions of dollars in publicity because the story was too shocking to ignore.
Publish First, Fact-Check Later (If Ever)
Online media often practices 'iterative journalism'—publishing a story quickly with minimal fact-checking and then updating it later. The initial, often incorrect, headline gets the most views, and any subsequent corrections rarely have the same reach.
A blog might run a headline like 'CEO Accused of Fraud!' based on a single anonymous tip. Even if the story is later proven false and the post is updated with a small correction at the bottom, the original damaging headline has already been shared thousands of times. The lie gets the traffic; the correction does not.
Reporters Are Paid to Be First, Not to Be Right
The system, not just the individuals, is to blame. The pressure to generate constant content and clicks means there is no time or economic reward for deep verification. The incentive is to publish anything that will get attention, as fast as possible.
Holiday explains how he could feed a blogger a complete story—headline, quotes, and images included—and they would often publish it verbatim within minutes. The blogger gets an easy, traffic-driving post, and Holiday gets his message out, no questions asked. The system rewards speed and ease over accuracy.
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