Trust Me I'm Lying (5th Anniversary Edition)

by Ryan Holiday

  Why does the media have to refer to every scandal as a BLANK-gate? What would you rather they do?

  It’s a lazy communication device used by journalists as shorthand for “this is a scandal.” I’d rather they call it just that: a scandal. Though #GamerScandal doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I think it’s irksome because it bothers us as writers to know that some lazy journalist thought they were being clever by using the suffix to get the headline. It’s a race to the bottom to see who can coin the word used to describe the scandal of the hour, with no regard for the breadth, scope or context of the issue. For example, the suffix was used to label both “Pardongate,” the controversy surrounding Bill Clinton’s pardoning of 140 people, and “Nipplegate,” when Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s breast during the Super Bowl halftime show. Though the latter gave rise to the possibly more annoying “wardrobe malfunction.”

  Tell us about your media diet. What do you read? Who do you trust? Who should people stay away from? What is the worst outlet in your eyes?

  My favorite news portal is Google News. It shows headlines from a number of different news outlets for popular stories, so you can see at a glance which organizations are trying to spin the narrative. For example, when the GOP-led report on the Benghazi scandal (Benghazi-gate for short) was released, right-wing websites like Fox News wrote headlines like, “GOP lawmakers, Benghazi survivors fume over House report” whereas left-leaning news organizations bristled at the findings, using words like “debunked” to describe the scandal. I take the “truth is usually somewhere in the middle” approach and try to read both left-and right-leaning news websites. Though if I’m short on time, I’m partial to BBC or NPR. The dryer and more boring the news, usually the better. Remove the profit motive from the news, be it corporate or outrage-based, and you’ll get better news.

  Your stance early on about not taking advertising on your site—because it would change how and what you wrote—was very influential to me. Not just for my own writing, but it helped me to see the subtle but significant warping effect that a business model can have on a medium (which I wrote a lot about in my book). Clearly, history has validated your views there—a huge part of the reason that internet culture is so awful is because of CPM advertising. How has that policy been for you? Clearly, it cost you a lot but are you happy with the choice? What about now with your videos, which are ad-supplemented in some ways?

  The choice to publish in a medium that is funded by advertising, such as YouTube or podcasting, weighed heavily on me. I rationalized the decision by upholding my promise to always keep my written website ad-free to have an outlet to express myself that would always be free of corporate interests and the self-censorship that ensues. Having dipped my toe in ad-funded mediums, I appreciate the freedom I have to say what I want so much more. I’m constantly worried about what I can or can’t say when someone is paying the bills. Not having a profit motive to get people to click on my website has allowed me to be more honest as a writer. I don’t have to write a listicle to get people to click because I don’t make money from that traffic. Frankly, the more traffic that comes to my website, the more I have to pay out of pocket to serve those readers. Success punishes me.

  The ad-free model has benefited me in another way: if I praise something, people trust me because they know I don’t advertise and have no reason to laud something I didn’t truly believe in. It’s a very powerful form of trust that money literally can’t buy. I feel comfortable with my decision. It’s a form of asceticism that has put me in dire straits financially at times, but the sacrifice has led to a greater appreciation for what I do.

  What do you think of podcasting as a medium? It’s having a moment here and you’ve jumped on it in a big way. I remember you tried a radio show with Sirius, what 10 years ago now? Where do you see this going? What opportunities does it afford you?

  Despite the Apple-related etymology of the name, podcasting is an excellent medium and the new home of talk radio. I first started listening to talk when I was 12-years-old, so I was saddened to see the demise of all the talk radio giants. When the last great AM and FM talk stations crumbled, the baton was passed to podcasting, starting with Adam Carolla. He was one of the first to make the successful transition to the new medium and has flourished. My brief stint with Sirius was fun, but didn’t last long because there were probably too many cooks in the kitchen.

  The cost of entry into podcasting is almost trivial, but the medium is starting to get saturated and the path to success more difficult. That’s mostly a good thing, because the podcasts that do succeed are usually the best ones, made by the right people—the type of people who persist and create art, even when nobody is listening, because they love doing it. It has democratized broadcasting, and done it in a way that’s free from the specter of advertising. At least in the beginning. The future is bright.

  This is not a media question at all, but I was genuinely surprised to learn when we hung out last year that you ride a bike. I just never saw Maddox on a bike. What else don’t we know?

  I actually don’t eat a ton of red meat (steak). Though I try to get Korean or American BBQ at least once a month. I’ll never give up my bike though. Still the fastest way around town during traffic, guaranteed. I still recommend your episode to people as a “best of” for new listeners. Yours is the only guest-problem to make it to the top-10 list. We still reference your problem all the time. Would love to have you on again. Thanks for these interview questions, that was fun. I wanted to say this up top but didn’t want to sound like a circle jerk, but I really appreciate your writing and think that it’s insightful and well-written. We think alike on a lot of things, and there are few writers I’d say that about.

  *http://observer.com/2016/10/exclusive-interview-how-this-right-wing-troll-reaches-100m-people-a-month/.

  *http://observer.com/2015/06/behind-the-scenes-with-the-journalist-who-fooled-millions-about-chocolate/.

  *http://observer.com/2015/05/exclusive-digital-darth-vader-charles-johnson-on-manipulating-politics-and-media/.

  *http://observer.com/2015/02/exclusive-how-this-left-wing-activist-manipulates-the-media-to-spread-his-message/

  *http://observer.com/2015/01/exclusive-how-this-man-got-the-media-to-fall-for-shipyourenemiesglitter-stunt/.

  *http://observer.com/2015/06/exclusive-interview-maddox-talks-buzzfeed-podcasts-and-media-manipulation/.

  NOTES

  PREFACE

  1. Smedley D. Butler, War Is a Racket. New York: Round Table Press, 1935.

  2. “Editors’ Note: July 19,” New York Times, July 19, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/pageoneplus/corrections-july-19.html?_r=0.

  I: BLOGS MAKE THE NEWS

  1. Jeremy W. Peters, “Political Blogs Are Ready to Flood Campaign Trail,” New York Times, January 29, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/media/30blogs.html.

  II: TRADING UP THE CHAIN: HOW TO TURN NOTHING INTO SOMETHING IN THREE WAY-TOO-EASY STEPS

  1. Lindsay Robertson, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Publicity, for Some Reason,” last modified January 12, 2010, http://lindsayrobertson.tumblr.com/post/330892541/the-dos-and-donts-of-online-publicity-for-some.

  2. “National Survey Finds Majority of Journalists Now Depend on Social Media for Story Research,” January 20, 2010, http://us.cision.com/news_room/press_releases/2010/2010-1-20_gwu_survey.asp.

  3. Ibid.

  4. NPR staff, “The Music Man Behind ‘Entourage’ Shares His Secret,” last modified November 20, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/11/20/142558220/the-music-man-behind-entourage-shares-his-secret.

  5. Tina Dupoy, “Tucker Max: America’s Douche,” last modified September 24, 2009, http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/tucker-max-americas-douche_b117873; Dakota Smith, “LA Not Particularly Welcoming to Tucker Max,” last modified September 24, 2009, http://la.curbed.com/archives/2009/09/la_not_particularly_welcoming_to_tucker_max.php.

  6. Mackenzie Schmidt, “16 Angry Women Attempt to P
rotest the World’s Biggest Douche. Or, the Anti–Tucker Max Story, ‘I Hope They Serve Subpoenas in Hell,’ ” last modified October 1, 2009, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2009/10/16_angry_women.php.

  7. Dan Shanoff, “Brett Favre on ‘Dancing with the Stars?’ No. Not Even a Rumor,” last modified February 11, 2011, http://www.quickish.com/articles/brett-favre-on-dancing-with-the-stars-no-not-even-a-rumor; Barry Petchesky, “From Bleacher Report to ProFootballTalk: A Brett Favre Non-Rumor Goes National,” last modified February 11, 2011, http://deadspin.com/5757958/from-bleacher-report-to-profootballtalk-a-brett-favre-non+rumor-goes-national.

  8. Steve Myers, “Florida Quran Burning, Afghanistan Violence Raise Questions About the Power of Media Blackouts,” last modified April 7, 2011, http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/making-sense-of-news/126878/florida-quran-burning-afghanistan-violence-raise-questions-about-the-power-of-media-blackouts; Jeff Bercovici, “When Journalism 2.0 Kills,” last modified April 7, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/04/07/when-journalism-2-0-kills.

  III: THE BLOG CON: HOW PUBLISHERS MAKE MONEY ONLINE

  1. TMZ Staff, “TMZ Falls for JFK Photo Hoax,” last modified December 28, 2009, http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/tmz-falls-jfk-photo-hoax.

  2. Forest Kamer, “Gawker’s March Editorial Review Memo: Essentially ‘Stop Writing Shitty Headlines.’ Also ‘MOAR SEX CRIMES PLZKTHX,’ ” last modified April 7, 2010, http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/gawkers_march_e.php.

  IV: TACTIC #1: THE ART OF THE BRIBE

  1. Ben Parr, “What Do the Big Tech Blogs Such as Techcrunch or Mashable Look For When They Hire Writers?” last modified December 28, 2010, http://www.quora.com/What-do-the-big-tech-blogs-such-as-TechCrunch-or-Mashable-look-for-when-they-hire-writers.

  2. Darren Rowse, “Weblogs Inc. Pays $4 per Post to Bloggers,” last modified August 27, 2005, http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/08/27/weblogs-inc-pays-4-per-post-to-bloggers.

  3. David Kaplan, “Updated: Seeking Alpha on Track to Pay Its Bloggers $1.2 Million This Year,” last modified July 5, 2011, http://paidcontent.org/article/419-seeking-alpha-on-track-to-pay-its-bloggers-1.2-million-this-year; Joe Pompeo, “The Awl to Start Paying Its Writers in January,” last modified December 14, 2010, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/awl-start-paying-writers-january-20101214-111403-891.html.

  4. Henry Blodget, “More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About the Economics of the Online News Business—A TWEETIFESTO,” last modified March 27, 2010, http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-economics-of-the-online-news-business-a-tweetifesto-2010-3.

  5. Jenni Maier, “Tucker Max Proves You Can Pay Celebrities to Tweet Whatever You Want,” last modified February 9, 2012, www.crushable.com/2012/02/09/entertainment/tucker-max-pay-celebrities-to-tweet-213.

  6. Nate Silver, “The Economics of Blogging and the Huffington Post,” last modified February 12, 2011, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/the-economics-of-blogging-and-the-huffington-post.

  7. Victoria Barret, “Is Pure Journalism Unaffordable?” last modified February 17, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriabarret/2011/02/17/is-pure-journalism-unaffordable; Blodget, “More Than You Ever Wanted to Know.”

  V: TACTIC #2: TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR

  1. “A Study of the News Ecosystem of One American City,” last modified January 11, 2010, http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/how_news_happens.

  2. Taylor Buley, “Tech’s Would-Be Takeover Con Artist,” last modified October 27, 2010, http://www.forbes.com:80/2009/10/27/fraud-stockbrocker-google-technology-internet-takeover.html.

  3. Sam Biddle, “Malfunctioning Cake Ruins Party and Spews Liquor All Over Oil Tycoons (Updated: Fake),” last updated June 7, 2012, http://gizmodo.com/5916538/malfunctioning-cake-ruins-party-and-spews-liquor-all-over-rich-people.

  4. Adrian Chen, “Viral Video of Shell Oil Party Disaster Is Fake, Unfortunately,” last updated June 7, 2012, http://gawker.com/5916661/hilarious-video-of-shell-oil-party-disaster-is-fake-unfortunately#13590606485532 &{“type”:”iframeUpdated”,”height”:292}.

  VI: TACTIC #3: GIVE ’EM WHAT SPREADS

  1. Nicole Hardesty, “Haunting Images of Detroit’s Decline (PHOTOS),” last modified March 23, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/detroitdecline_n_813696.html; Stephen McGee, “Detroit’s Iconic Ruins,” http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/03/06/us/0306_STATION_7.html; Andrew Moore, “Slide Show: Detroit, City of Ruins,” last modified April 8, 2010, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/apr/08/slide-show-detroit-city-of-ruins; The Observer, “Detroit in Ruins,” last modified January 1, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit#; Bruce Gilden, “Detroit: The Troubled City,” last modified May 6, 2009, http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2009/05/detroit_the_troubled_city.html.

  2. Noreen Malone, “The Case Against Economic Disaster Porn,” last modified January 22, 2011, http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/81954/Detroit-economic-disaster-porn.

  3. Adrianne Jeffries, “Interview with Jonah Peretti, on BuzzFeed’s Move into News,” last modified January 18, 2012, http://www.betabeat.com/2012/01/18/interview-with-jonah-peretti-on-buzzfeeds-move-into-news.

  4. Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman, “What Makes Content Viral?” 2011, Wharton School, http://www.scribd.com/doc/67402512/SSRN-id1528077. I cited an early version of this study (see link) that caused some controversy as the exact wording I quote changed in later drafts published by the study’s authors. Nothing they say contradicts their earlier point, but I am including the link to the original for your benefit.

  5. Annie Lang, “Negative Video as Structure: Emotion, Attention, Capacity and Memory,” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Arts (Fall 1996): 460.

  VII: TACTIC #4: HELP THEM TRICK THEIR READERS

  1. Venkatesh Rao, “The Greasy, Fix-It ‘Web of Intent’ Vision,” last modified August 17, 2010, http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/17/the-greasy-fix-it-web-of-intent-vision/.

  IX: TACTIC #6: MAKE IT ALL ABOUT THE HEADLINE

  1. Kenneth Whyte, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2009.

  2. Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1919.

  3. Jenna Sauers, “American Apparel’s Rejected Halloween Costume Ideas,” last modified October 18, 2010, http://Jezebel.com/5666842/exclusive-american-apparels-rejected-halloween-costume-idea.

  4. Eric Schmidt, “How Google Can Help Newspapers,” Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574569570797550520.html.

  5. David Carr, “Taylor Momsen Did Not Write This Headline,” New York Times, May 16, 2010.

  6. E. B. Boyd, “Brains and Bots Deep Inside Yahoo’s CORE Grab a Billion Clicks,” Fast Company, August 1, 2011, http://www.fastcompany.com/1770673/how-yahoo-got-to-a-billion-clicks.

  X: TACTIC #7: KILL ’EM WITH PAGEVIEW KINDNESS

  1. “Leaked: AOL’s Master Plan,” Business Insider, http://www.businessinsider.com/the-aol-way#-17.

  2. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2.html.

  3. Brandon Mendelson, “Mashable Continues to Cash In on Death,” last modified September 6, 2011, http://ph.news.yahoo.com/mashable-continues-cash-death-173201323.html.

  4. Bryan C. Warnock, “Re: RFCs: Two Proposals for Change,” last modified August 7, 2000, http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.bootstrap/2000/08/msg1127.html.

  5. Nate Silver, “The Economics of Blogging and the Huffington Post,” last modified February 12, 2011, http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/the-economics-of-blogging-and-the-huffington-post.

  XI: TACTIC #8: USE THE TECHNOLOGY AGAINST ITSELF

  1. Justin Hall, last modified January 10, 1996, http://links.net/daze/96/01/10.

  2. “The Gawker Job Interview,” last modified
January 12, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/fashion/13gweb.html.

  3. S. Kim, “Content Analysis of Cancer Blog Posts,” Journal of the Medical Library Association (October 2009) 97: 260–66.

  4. Jakob Nielsen, “Long vs. Short Articles as Content Strategy,” last modified November 12, 2007, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/content-strategy.html.

  5. Jack Fuller, “Public Inauthenticity: A Crisis of Falling Expectations,” May 12, 1999, http://newsombudsmen.org/fuller.html.

  XII: TACTIC #9: JUST MAKE STUFF UP (EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT)

  1. “Seeing Non-existent Things,” Washington Post, June 18, 1899, accessed July 30, 2011, ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

  2. Meranda Watling, “Where to Find Original, Local Story Ideas Online,” last modified May 31, 2011, http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/where-to-find-original-local-story-ideas-online_b4352.

  3. M. G. Siegler, “Content Everywhere, but Not a Drop to Drink,” February 12, 2012, http://parislemon.com/post/17527312140/content-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-drink.

  4. Maysa Rawi, “Has American Apparel Gone Too Far with ‘Creepy’ Controversial New Campaign?” last modified January 11, 2011, http://www.daily-mail.co.uk/fe-mail/article-1346138/Has-American-Apparel-gone-far-creepy-controversial-new-campaign.html.

  5. Nate Freeman, “Gawker Editor Remy Stern Talks Approach to O’Donnell Story,” last modified October 28, 2010, http://www.observer.com/2010/media/gawker-editor-remy-stern-approach-odonnell-story?utm_medium=partial-text&utm_campaign=media.

  XIII: IRIN CARMON, THE DAILY SHOW, AND ME: THE PERFECT STORM OF HOW TOXIC BLOGGING CAN BE