Wired and Business Insider have pulled an article allegedly authored by freelance journalist Margaux Blanchard.
Blanchard has seen her work featured in various US and UK outlets, covering everything from couples marrying in video games to personal reflections on becoming a parent at 45. However, her credibility began to unravel when she pitched a story about “Jacob Feldy, Graigmont, a decommissioned mining town in Colorado, being repurposed as one of the world’s most secretive training grounds for death investigations.”
As Press Gazette noted, this claim was dismissed as “absolute borock” by Furedi.
There wasn’t even a cemetery, and Blanchard failed to provide the public records she purported to have.
While a number of publications had featured her articles, she seemed to create a portfolio by linking to previous bylines. Intriguingly, many of her pieces included dubious details about sources that appeared to be fictitious.
The first outlet to retract her work was Wired, which published a story about a real couple who married in Minecraft.
The article cited a “Chicago-based appointed host Jessica Who.”
On Thursday, Wired explained that concerns arose when Blanchard insisted on receiving payment via PayPal or check, and claimed she couldn’t provide personal documents.
Wired had run her article through two third-party AI detection tools that did not affirm its legitimacy.
In April, Business Insider announced it had two days of personal essays from Blanchard, including experiences of remote work as a parent while having her first child at 45.
After outlets raised concerns, the article was removed on Tuesday.
According to a Business Insider spokesperson, “We didn’t meet the standards,” and they have emphasized their validation protocols before pulling first-person essays.
Additionally, Corn Magazine, a British publication, retracted Blanchard’s piece about an indie streetwear brand after Press Gazette alerted them to issues.
SFGATE also removed an article featuring Blanchard that focused on Disney super fans; it mentioned a “Kayla Reed, a 28-year-old content creator with over 100,000 followers,” yet no records of her could be found.
SFGATE stated, “In light of the questions raised, it was removed following an internal investigation.”
Naked Politics, a UK outlet for younger readers, published an article by Blanchard in May. “I was 14 when I first asked for help,” it began.
The publication remarked that some of Blanchard’s work didn’t meet journalistic standards and contained unverifiable information from cited sources.
In reflecting on the situation, someone commented, “I think she could have found a way to write for a political site or churn out AI-generated business content. But if it’s about real experiences and conversations, you can’t just fake it.”
