Over the years, Drew Cloud dispensed advice in student-loan debt that has often been quoted in major media outlets around the country, including the release of surveys detailing the problems the debt draws.
The problem is, the self-described journalist isn't a real person, and never was, "The Chronicle of Higher Education" revealed this week.
That revelation left publications like the Washington Post who quoted Drew Cloud to post corrections on their stories.
"This story originally included information from Student Loan Report and cited Drew Cloud, who was described as its founder," the Post added at the top of a story titled "College grads face next hurdle: Paying back student loans."
The Post then went on to explain: "This week, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Drew Cloud does not exist. Student Loan Report is affiliated with LendEDU, a for-profit student lending company, according to LendEDU chief executive Nate Matherson. Matherson confirmed that Cloud is a fictitious character his company promoted as an expert to speak about student loans. The quotes attributed to Cloud and the information from Student Loan Report have been removed from this article."
The surveys often quoted in news stories come from a website Cloud purportedly founded, "The Student Loan Report." According to the website, Cloud founded it "after he had difficulty finding the most recent student loan news and information all in one place."
However, Cloud was invented by the site's real founders, a student loan refinancing company.
In a disclaimer posted on the first page of the site after the Chronicle's revelations, Matherson wrote that the writers on the site used "Drew Cloud" as a shared pen name, and that there are other pen names that have been used to publish the site's contents.
"The thoughts, stories, and opinions come from the actual experiences of our team," he said. "We have always held ourselves to high standards of content quality – all of the data we published on The Student Loan Report was vetted, accurate, and licensed from the related polling companies."
Matherson also apologized, while insisting The Student Loan Report and the company's loan site, LendEDU.com, its main business, have always been operated separately.
However, the Chronicle reports, "Cloud" corresponded with journalists, pitched stories, and even offered email interviews, which ended up being published.
The Chronicle tried to contact the fake journalist, but "he" said he was traveling and only had limited ability to connect with his account.
Cloud's bylines on the website have been replaced with "SLR Editor," but before that, he had been described as having "a knack for reporting throughout high school and college where he picked up his topics of choice."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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