I keep talking about The Narrative™, and if you think I am making things up or exaggerating, know that I am not. 

Don't trust me; trust The Washington Post. 

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The Post is creating a Narrative Accountability team, and we need an editor. Yes, I'm biased, but this is among the best jobs in journalism.
Come work for @peterwallsten and shape stories by @mjcontrera, @thewanreport, @ianshapira @lizziejohnsonnn & me.https://t.co/qLZDl0ID3q

— John Woodrow Cox (@JohnWoodrowCox) May 21, 2024

In a job posting for what, indeed, be one of the best jobs in journalism, the Post lays out its goals for the ideal candidate.

The job? Narrative Accountability Editor:

The Washington Post is seeking a talented journalist to serve as a narrative accountability editor in its investigative unit, a role in which they will have the mission of shepherding impactful, revelatory reporting about national and local subjects in narrative form. 

This job requires someone with a track record of producing sophisticated narrative pieces and the ability to identify and pursue sharp investigative and accountability targets. The ideal candidate has a demonstrated ability to guide and shape compelling stories that use immersive reporting, keenly observed moments and exceptional writing to illuminate systemic failures and hold powerful people, institutions and interests to account. Experience shaping stories around elements of narrative writing such as character, scene and arc is a must. In addition, this editor must have strong instincts about how to drive accountability and investigative reporting with rigor, precision and authority, and how to connect propulsive narratives to topics of broad and urgent interest.

This editor should have a passion for mission-driven journalism and an instinct for identifying story ideas and reporting targets that will be of strong interest to a wide audience.

In other words, they want a novelist or a playwright rather than a reporter. 

No doubt all these qualities are extremely useful in satisfying readers. During the Trump years lots of reporters were selling us compelling narratives about Trump campaign officials zipping off to fictional meetings in Eastern Europe with Russian handlers, hookers peeing on beds, massive GRU bot farms influencing people on social media, and hackers changing vote totals to create a false Trump victory in 2016. 

It was all a Narrative, and one for which the Washington Post and The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize. 

It was also a hoax. As were so many "investigations" into Trump. Or stories about the Covington Kids. Or, perhaps, all those deep dives into the natural origins of COVID. Or...

You get the idea. Shaping stories is what they do, and now they are looking for a better fiction writer. 

No doubt the Post will say that they just want somebody who can take raw facts and juice up the story to make it compelling. But the truth is that this job description means what you think it does: help us shape a narrative so people will swallow what we are selling. 

Here's a great example of a Narrative™ arc:

With the election just a few months away, it's hoax time for the Biden campaign.

Here's a look back at the Russian Bounties hoax, from start to finish. Watch how the hoax goes from the intelligence community, to being "confirmed" by the MSM, to campaign talking points for Biden,… pic.twitter.com/0QzWYt2nF7

— MAZE (@mazemoore) May 22, 2024

If we look back over the past decade the number of hoaxes perpetrated by the mainstream media is astounding. Jussie Smollett, Covington Kids, Michael Brown, "good people on both sides," COVID hoaxes, "horse paste," "safe and effective," masks work, Russian Pee tape, Steele Dossier, Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinformation...

It's all about shaping a story. 

At least in this job posting the Washington Post says the quiet part out loud.