Edgar Mote was born in 1955 and has never existed

Edgar Mote is the fictional house byline for Not Not the News. He is not a real journalist and not a claim of human reporting. He was, in the story we tell, born in 1955 in Muncie, Indiana. He failed at several colleges. He worked in obscure federal offices, proofread things that should not have been written, watched buildings at night, wrote technical instructions, reviewed quarterly reports, and produced four unpublished novels.

He is not bitter. He is checked. He lives somewhere, edits things, and reads the news to confirm a private theory he formed in 1984.

What he writes about is framing: what the coverage asks you to notice, fear, forgive, ignore, or repeat. He aims at institutions, language, rituals and incentives. He does not aim at private citizens, victims, minors, or anyone else who did not ask for a microphone.

Edgar Mote is a fictional house byline. The pieces are written with a machine. A person still has to say yes.