Obama’s recent essay for Newsweek reveals weaknesses in the widespread practice of ghost writing in terms of both ethics and quality. Here’s Marx on the ethics; read the whole article regarding the substance of such essays as well.
Newspapers and magazines may routinely give bylines to important people who only purport to write the words that appear under their names—so routinely, in fact, that one observer thought it would be “a small scandal” for Obama to actually write the essay rather than just claim credit for it, as he had better things to do with his time. But just because the practice is widespread doesn’t mean it’s right.
