Ghostwriting

Ghostwriting is the process whereby one person, usually a professional writer, writes a document or a speech that another person then delivers and represents as largely that person's own work. The professional writer or “ghost” lends skills in message preparation to the speaker, and the speaker takes advantage of these skills. The writer is described as a ghost—being invisible when the speech is actually delivered. Ghostwriting is a well-entrenched part of many communication professions including public relations and political communication.

Senior political figures regularly employ professional speechwriters. Many business executives similarly employ professional ghostwriters to help craft speeches, letters, and other documents. Speechwriting in most organizations is a specialized aspect of the larger public relations function. Ghostwriting is also practiced in some publishing circles. Among the most celebrated modern ghostwriters was Peggy Noonan, President Ronald Reagan's speechwriter. Noonan described the speechwriting process as one of balancing competing interests and managing successive reviews and revisions. The principal issues surrounding ghostwriting are effectiveness and ethical concerns of masked authorship and the possibility of deception. Deception occurs when those “pearls of wisdom” voiced by one person are actually the work of someone else. The person who delivered the message does not have the time or talent to craft the message but receives credit for it. The ideology expressed in the message may come from the author more than from the person who delivers it.

Ghostwriters are generally believed to be able to produce more effective messages than would the average executive or politician working alone because the ghost has specific communication and writing skills. Moreover, ghosts can spend much more time preparing a speech, researching the audience and issues, and developing arguments than can a busy politician or executive. Ghostwriting is often justified on the grounds that it saves valuable executive time.

One of the key features of effectiveness is the ability of the ghost to successfully write for a particular speaker. Speechwriters must be very knowledgeable about their client's specific interests, positions on various issues, and speaking style. The relationship between speaker and writer is most effective when it is characterized by openness and trust. Writer and speaker should work closely as a team to construct a speech that each is comfortable with. Mike Morrison, former speechwriter for Lee Iacocca, noted that “when a speaker comes to trust the writer to capture his voice and to articulate his position in that voice, the process can be very smooth.” Ghostwriters are also most effective when their participation goes unnoticed. An unwritten rule of ghostwriting is that the ghostwriter remains anonymous. In general, ghostwriters should not be publicly identified with a particular speaker or speech.

The ethical questions surrounding ghostwriting cluster around issues of honesty and deception. Specifically, some critics charge that using a ghostwriter is a kind of deception: a fraud or plagiarism whereby the speaker implicitly claims that the speech is his or her own. Because credibility, according to traditional models of ethos, is created by the speaker “speaking well,” the speaker must be the author of the speech. Ancient writers on rhetoric, such as Aristotle, Cato, and Quintilian, all embraced the view that credibility arises during the speech as the speaker demonstrates personal reasoning, moral character, and skill. Ghostwriting short-circuits this credibility-building process by allowing the speakers to substitute the words of a professional writer for their own. Some have suggested that this deception is not an issue in modern political or corporate contexts because the use of ghostwriters is essentially an open secret. Audiences have come to expect that those in leadership positions will employ professional speechwriters to assist in the preparation of their messages. Other critics have noted that in cases where a ghost is employed, the speaker is usually fulfilling a larger representative leadership role. The speech, therefore, is best viewed as a corporate or organizational [Page 392]product much like an advertisement or brochure. In these cases, credibility is generated for the organization rather than for the specific speaker.

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