出版与作家生涯2016paleofuture.gizmodo.com
Guy Sims Fitch：美国政府虚构出来的一位假作家
Guy Sims Fitch, a Fake Writer Invented by the US Government
导读
这篇讲的是美国政府（具体说是美国新闻署）在冷战时期虚构了一位名叫 Guy Sims Fitch 的“作家”，给他配上完整履历、照片和大量署名文章，投放到海外报刊，用来悄悄输出美国立场。对写作者来说，它是一堂关于“可信度是怎么被制造出来的”反面教材：人设、署名、反复曝光、看似客观的第三方口吻，都是让人相信的手段。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
可信度往往来自细节的一致性：假作者之所以骗过人，是因为他有稳定的人设、履历和一贯文风，写作时人设前后矛盾最容易露馅。
- 02
借“第三方”之口说自己的观点更有说服力，但这也是最容易被滥用的手法，引用他人观点时要交代来源，读者也应核查引文。
- 03
那位假作者在文章里引用一句“自己”的名言再感叹“多么正确”，这是自造权威的典型把戏，写作中要警惕这种自我引证。
- 04
单篇文章的影响有限，重复曝光才是关键：同一观点以不同署名、不同渠道反复出现，读者就会误以为它是共识。
HN 评论精选
自引自赞是伪造权威的经典手法，也暴露了假作者的可笑之处。
有趣的是，这位写信人引用了一句显然是自己化名编造出来的话，然后还感叹“多么正确啊！”——是啊，你能同意自己，真是奇妙。
TazeTSchnitzel查看英文原文
It's amusing that the letter author uses an apparently fabricated quote from their own pseudonym, then remarks “How true!” Yes, funny how you agree with yourself, isn't it!
控制刊发渠道比写单篇文章更能决定叙事走向。
一则轶事：我父亲的朋友在六十年代买下了一家南美报纸，背后有位不露面的合伙人。他后来才发现，真正的投资人不是他见过的那位富人，而是中情局——他们想在这家报纸里占一份影响。他得知后就把股份卖了。我一直觉得这不是孤例：写文章是一回事，拥有媒体渠道则更厉害。
Gustomaximus查看英文原文
An anecdote: A friend of my father bought a South American newspaper in the 60's. He did so being backed by a silent partner. What he found out later was the investor was not really the wealthy person he had met but the CIA who wanted a stake and influence in this newspaper. He sold out upon finding this out and I always found this interesting as I imagine this was not a one off event. So writing is one thing, owning media outlets seems even more amazing. Also he also told me about 20 years ago to watch, Hillary Clinton will likely be president. I remember repeating his prediction at the time and people scoffed at the suggestion.
历史上政府与记者的合作是有组织、成规模的，不只是个别假笔名。
“美好旧时光”：可参考“知更鸟行动”条目（中情局在冷战期间招募记者、渗透媒体的项目）。
eth0up查看英文原文
The good old days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
宣传不是一篇文章的事，而是政府与媒体长期合作的系统性工程。
还可以看布什时期的假记者杰夫·甘农、公共电视和有线电视里的心理战部门、国务院宣传与索尼的关系、“观念之战”项目、国防部的公开和平时期心理战计划、用全球监控实时测量宣传效果的国家安全局任务、帮政府推销战争的朱迪斯·米勒等等——从收买媒体合作塑造叙事，到施压媒体公司（比如拒绝提供后门而遭报复破产的 Qwest），这是一整套系统。
jwtadvice查看英文原文
Or Jeff Gannon, the fake journalist at press briefings during the Bush Administation, the Psyops Units at PBS/CNN and the new buildings next to Google HQ, the relationship between State Department propaganda and SONY as leaked by the disclosures a few years ago, the "War of Ideas" program, the Overt Peacetime Psyops Program (OP3) out of the DoD, the NSA task to use global surveillance to measure in real time the effects of US propaganda programming, Judith Miller and others who worked with the state to sell the war, the weaponization of information in the press (the "echo chamber" Josh Earnest bragged about creating for the Obama Administration), war censorship and media imbedding laws that removes the possibility of investigative reporting on US war operations, the FBI hacking of the Associated Press, the censorship of public records in the State Department Press Briefiengs, the censorship of media coverage in Ferguson via the FAA, the engineered content in public school education textbooks and standards, the censorship of public records (such as over 80% of the Torture Program Reports), the partnership with media companies on narrative that led to both the censorship of surveillance reporting during the Bush Administration and the ouster of Snowden Document content from US media firms including social media sites like Facebook, the coercive leverage in the relationship with media companies (e.g. the bankruptcy of QWest in retaliation for refusing national security backdoors), operations like Earnest Voice to arm our military with astroturfing and persona management technology, the flood of military users and narrative into social media sites like reddit, the huge cashflows of taxpayer money into PR firms to manage public perception of the state and the police, operations like Zunzuneo focused on destabilizing countries overseas, etc.
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