CNN Is Hiring a Real Reporter to Investigate Fake News

During his first contentious press conference since the election, president-elect Donald Trump accused CNN of being “fake news.” Now the cable news organization is trying to fight that claim by taking steps to hire a real fake news reporter—someone who can actually investigate the origin of the lies that are spread, mostly on social media, by the electorate.

On Thursday, CNN Media posted a job listing looking to hire a senior writer whose entire job would be to chase down stories like the one that aide to a Maryland lawmaker planted about Hillary Clinton buying fraudulent ballots in Ohio or the one about her being involved with a pedophile ring in the basement of a DC pizza restaurant.

“We’re going to be examining the wave of ‘fake news’ stories and the people behind them, but more than that we’re going to be looking at truth—what happened to it, why so many of us no longer believe it, and where those people are going to get their information instead,” the listing reads. 

Additional qualifications include debunking myths, confronting the “real” media about their hand in the fake news lifecycle, and probably a very tough skin in order to deal with all of the online trolls who will deem the reporter’s work as “fake.” Oh, and candidates should also have six years of experience. You know, experience in the media before it was all “fake.”

CNN is the first news organization to actively try to combat and devote time to the fake news phenomenon. Back in December, Facebook launched its own initiative to try to curb the site’s role in spreading articles from the cottage industry of website purveyors who capitalized on the fractured political environment of the presidential election. 

So, if you are an experienced journalist who wants to focus on a trend that no one can seem to define nor has any idea how to stop, then CNN has the job for you. No salary is listed, but whatever the amount, there’s no way it is enough.