Why Do Writers Make Things Up?

I believe the ultimate motivation for making up things in reporting is a combination of laziness and deadlines. Reaching out to a high school coach is usually not very difficult, as emails of all coaches are available online for both East and West schools, for example. It is pretty much a given that if you try to make something up, especially quotes, someone is going to find out. Even if the one quoted doesn’t see it, someone who knows them could easily see and pass it along. If you are writing for a local newspaper on high school sports, there’s no reason to make up quotes or think you’ll get away with it.

On the deadline side of things, there could be pressure to make a deadline for Mike Barnicle to make up an entire story. Messing up so badly, his editor stated "Basically, this was a sufficient violation of journalistic ethics to merit ending his career here. In this case, the punishment did fit the crime." The only way I could see making up a story like this is if you desperately need to submit a story and don’t have anything else that you feel needs to be covered. Barnicle’s actions still remain wrong and definitely deserved to ruin his reputation and end his career.