Conspiracy entrepreneurs track trending news to exploit cultural heat

Evidence

So if there is a pattern to the many, many conspiracies Wolf has floated in recent years, it is simply this: they were about subjects that were dominating the news and generating heat at the time. Of course none of us who offers analysis on current events as part of our profession is immune to the hot-take hustle. But from Assange to Ebola to ISIS, what Wolf did went well beyond that: by claiming to possess some secret piece of knowledge that she alone had uncovered, and by claiming she was being terribly persecuted by daring to share it, she was able to insert herself in the middle of countless trending cultural conversations. Where there was heat, there was her. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 338

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s knowledge of manufactured-outrage cycles and moral-panic theory; also builds on Klein’s earlier framing of Wolf in this book. — connects to: Copied stories across conspiracy sites create false impressions of source diversity. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 393; Conspiracy theories need a famous name or major outlet to go viral — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 444; Removing editorial gatekeepers opened the way for conspiracy entrepreneurs (+3 more)