Or you can apply Goodhart's Law[0] and try to picture how wrong that can also go.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

> That doesn't seem like a bad goal.

Like most sales goals, it seems reasonable. And then you remember that when it comes to pay, some people will do anything.

The thing is – if you have such an incentive and you are faced with the choice between reporting a boring truth or a spiced up lie, you will go for the later. And that has nothing to do with journalism anymore.

It _could_ work – if the editors are espeically on the hunt for bogus stories.

This was the opening story on their homepage. There us no way the editors (and the legal department) did not scrutinize it thoroughly.

Just because it passes legal muster doesn't mean it's ethical. And I think that's one of the things that people are calling for.