Fake letters in newspapers are common

WROTE FOLLOWING COLUMN ON SEPT. 24, 2008
Kerry:
Many years ago, I was the editor of a newspaper. A local woman regularly wrote letters to the editors on the topic of Soviet Jewry. They were poorly written. I also knew her personally because of her activism. I did not think that she was bright.
One day, she walked into my office and presented me with a letter on her favorite topic. It was the most wonderfully-written letter I have ever read. In fact, it was one of the most wonderfully-written anything I have ever read.
I was shocked. I looked her in the face and asked if she had written it. She said "Yes." I didn't believe her, but I promised to publish it -- and did. I figured that a staffer from the local Soviet Jewry organization had ghost-written it. That was good enough reason to print it although I wished the woman had told me the truth.
Later, I ran into the two staffers for the local Soviet Jewry organization, one of whom was a writer. Both insisted that they didn't write it. Now, I was just perplexed.
About one week later, I was reading Jewish newspapers from around the nation. The Detroit Jewish newspaper had the SAME letter word for word, but with a different author. Then, I read the San Francisco Jewish paper. And the Cleveland paper. And on and on and on.
Yes, the SAME LETTER WAS IN ALL THE NEWSPAPERS word for word with different authors. I made a quick phone call to the national headquarters of the Soviet Jewry organization and a staffer admitted to me in about one second that a colleague of his had written the letter. He had no shame about it. He said it was standard practice.
I was infuriated, but I found that I was the ONLY person who was. No one on the newspaper's Board of Directors could give a damn.
My point is that this uproar over the "fake" McCain letters is NOT going to resonate with more than a few people. I would BET you that the Obama campaign is doing the same thing.
Shalom,
ZWrite
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