“Fake News Mastermind” Dupes Columbus, Ohio & the U.S., for Cash
The image used in Cameron Harris’s fake news story about Columbus, Ohio
In a new report from the New York Times, Cameron Harris, the college graduate Trump voter that crafted sensationalist fake news such as, “BREAKING: ‘Tens of thousands’ of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse” for his fake-news website, ChristianTimesNewspaper.com, has said he did for the cash.
In the New York Times piece, he recounts studying Donald Trump’s speeches on a rigged election before crafting the above headline which would serve as a launching point for what many would consider a morally bankrupt enterprise.
“Given the severe distrust of the media among Trump supporters, anything that parroted Trump’s talking points people would click. Trump was saying ‘rigged election, rigged election.’ People were predisposed to believe Hillary Clinton could not win except by cheating.”
It’s pretty shocking how invented the entire thing is, down to the pictures and names, going so far as to invent Randall Prince, a Columbus-area electrical worker and googling pictures for “ballot boxes.”
In all, the story — according to the report — he took fifteen minutes to create the fake news and earned about $5,000 from the traffic it brought to the website, all thanks to Google ads. He is responsible for such stories as:
- “Protesters Beat Homeless Veteran to Death in Philadelphia”
- “Hillary Clinton Files for Divorce in New York Courts.”
- “NYPD Looking to Press Charges Against Bill Clinton for Underage Sex Ring,”
“At first it kind of shocked me — the response I was getting,” he said. “How easily people would believe it. It was almost like a sociological experiment,” said Harris.
Because of the New York Times article, Cameron Harris has been fired from his position as a Republican Legislative Aide in Maryland.
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