We’re Gonna Need To See Some ID

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Y’all. We’ve got a problem.

Apparently, we’ve reached the point where journalists need to make sure the person sending them a quote is, in fact, the person sending them a quote.

Wild, right? Next week: confirming that the foreign royal in our inbox is, in fact, not a foreign royal. 🥸

But jokes aside, this is becoming a very real problem for journalists and, because we can never catch a break, for the PR people who help connect them with sources.

Take Caroline’s recent experience. Someone impersonated her, pitched editors in her name, and ultimately got an article published under her byline. The piece went through multiple rounds of editing, made it all the way to publication and, because apparently this scam needed one more plot twist, the impersonator GOT. PAID.

Meanwhile, the real Caroline was left dealing with a reputational hangover.

As she pointed out, editors burned by the fake version of her might understandably think twice before commissioning the real one.

And that’s the part that makes this bigger than just “someone got scammed.” A fake identity can start damaging the real person’s relationships with editors, sources, and outlets—basically slapping a giant invisible asterisk next to their name and making them prove they’re not the knockoff.

It’s a nightmare scenario that points to a bigger problem: the usual signs that someone is who they say they are are getting a lot easier to fake.

An email address. 

A convincing pitch. 

A quote that sounds perfectly plausible. 

A LinkedIn profile with 47 endorsements and a suspiciously polished headshot.

AI can manufacture all of it.

Which means journalists aren't just asking, “Is this a good source?” but “Is this a real source? And did they actually say this?”

Qwoted's CSO recently noted that the platform has seen a sharp increase in fraud and now requires independent verification in certain situations. Journalists need to confirm both that 1) a source is who they claim to be and 2) that they actually made the comments attributed to them.

Translation: “Looks legit, let’s run with it 🤷‍♀️” is no longer a viable verification strategy.

One of the easiest ways to verify that a source is real? Talk to them!

Like, call them up. On the phone. Schedule a Zoom coffee date. Meet up IRL. Basically, verify through some medium where you can be sure there isn’t a chatbot wearing a very convincing human costume.

This, naturally, creates a brand-new puzzle for PR peeps. Because apparently we weren’t already solving enough of those.

Traditionally, PR has been very good at being the middleman.

Journalist needs an expert? We find one.

Journalist needs a quote? We get one.

Journalist wants to interview the CEO? We'll coordinate it, prep them, manage the logistics, and probably send over some talking points that have been reviewed by approximately 17 people before the CEO ever sees them.

We make media interactions easier for everyone.

Buuuttttt that model may need a little tweaking now. The value’s gonna shift from being the person in between the two…to being the person helping build the relationship between them.

We’re officially matchmakers.

Think less bouncer at the club, more person with the headset making sure the production doesn’t burst into flames. Still deeply involved, but more time behind the scenes and less time as the human firewall. 

That could mean investing more heavily in media training for spokespeople. Not just “Here are your three approved talking points. Please do not deviate from slide 14 and do not have an unscripted thought.”

But training people to have a conversation.

To answer a question they weren't expecting.

To explain something in their own words.

To have a point of view.

To know when they don't know something.

To handle a journalist who pushes back.

To understand what's on the record.

TL;DR: make the spokesperson someone a journalist actually wants to talk to, not just someone who has been approved to talk to a journalist.

PR gets to do what it does best: make the human look really good.

And there’s a bigger opportunity here, too. PR can help figure out which relationships are worth building in the first place. Not every journalist needs direct access to every spokesperson. The right journalist + the right expert + an actual relationship, though…that’s gold.

The goal? Make the spokesperson someone the journalist wants to call again.

It may mean helping spokespeople develop a real POV, not just memorizing approved messaging; or identifying the subjects they can comfortably speak to, building familiarity with the journalists who cover those areas. 

Because ideally, the relationship doesn’t disappear the second the campaign, launch, or announcement is over.

This new relationship can become much more valuable than a single quote – the journalist now has a trusted source in your spokesperson and can call ‘em up whenever something comes up (which, as you can imagine, is wildly hard to fake). 

If you guys don’t know it by now, then you may be a lost cause. But we’ll say it again just in case: AI is making authenticity more valuable. 

We know, we know, we’re total pioneers, and someone needs to alert the LinkedIn content machine, pronto.

But, ugh, it’s true. 

We spent the last decade making everything easier to do over email. Now AI has gotten so good at email that we may need to make some things harder again. 🫠 #jokesonus

Pick up the phone. Have the coffee. Do the IRL interview. 

Let the CEO ramble for 45 seconds before landing on the answer. 

Give the journalist enough context to know there’s a real human on the other end.

When everything online can be generated, spoofed, or sloppily Frankensteined together, knowing a real person starts to become its own little verification system.

And unfortunately…that might mean we're all going to have to start answering the phone again.

Damn.

Ash & Lizzy

Who's going where and why it matters. Not just job shifts - power dynamics, layoffs, and who's headed out.

💔 Android Times laid off its entire staff.

🎉 The Atlantic has hired seven roles in its newsroom. Get the full list of names and titles here.

👀 Morning Brew acquired Express Checkout, a creator-led media brand covering the consumer packaged goods industry.

🎉 J.D. Capelouto is now a Tech Reporter and Newsroom AI Lead at SEMAFOR.

🎉 Pranav Dixit is now a Senior Technology Editor at Business Insider.

🎉 Roger Fingas has joined Engadget as a Staff Writer.

💔 After leading the outlet for two decades, Dark Reading EIC Kelly Jackson Higgins has stepped down.

🧳 Mike Isaac has left The Times for The Atlantic. He’ll cover Silicon Valley.

🎉 Stacy Jones has joined the Financial Times as a Senior Data Journalist.

🎉 Isabelle Lee joined Bloomberg Television as a Markets Reporter.

🧳 Jim O'Donnell has left Informa TechTarget, closing the books on full-time enterprise technology journalism.

👀 Max Read will guest-host NYT's "Hard Fork," returning as a video podcast in early October.

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