---
title: "The cycle of manufactured coverage"
description: "How a blog turns its own need for traffic into a story the public then treats as real."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/the-cycle-of-manufactured-coverage/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# The cycle of manufactured coverage

> How a blog turns its own need for traffic into a story the public then treats as real.

Ryan Holiday's framework, from Trust Me, I'm Lying, pp. 18 to 125.

Framework 3 of 5 from [Trust Me, I'm Lying](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/index.md) by Ryan Holiday. Category: Storytelling.

## The steps

1. **Need.** Blogs need things to cover, and traffic rises when something big is on.
2. **Mismatch.** Reality does not line up with that need, as with an election that is still far away.
3. **Creation.** Blogs create the story anyway, such as an early candidate.
4. **Reification.** The coverage turns the subject into the real thing, and mass media legitimise it.
5. **Payoff.** Blogs profit and the public loses.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: Book One: Feeding The Monster: How Blogs Work, pp. 18–125

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/the-cycle-of-manufactured-coverage.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/the-cycle-of-manufactured-coverage-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/the-cycle-of-manufactured-coverage.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/trust-me-im-lying/the-cycle-of-manufactured-coverage-dark.png