Former Infowars employee on Alex Jones' conspiracy machine

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Our guest today has a story to tell about what it's like to work in a disinformation factory. It's the one created by this man. There are dozens of videos and photos of Obama having flies land on him indoors at all times of year, and he'll be next to a hundred people and no one has flies on him.

Hillary reportedly, I mean, I always told people around her that they think she's demon possessed, okay? I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, okay? You might recognize that as the voice of Alex Jones, the force behind InfoWars, the website, radio program, video streaming show, and podcast known for propagating countless conspiracy theories. Among them the notion that the deadly school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a hoax, staged by the government to justify seizing the guns of American citizens. Josh Owen spent four years in his twenties as a video editor and field producer for Jones and his media company.

His new memoir takes readers inside the frenetic Infrowars paranoia shop, where Jones constantly demanded that his staff churn out stories of the evil perpetrated by the deep state and global elites, stories based on few, if any, actual facts. Owens was troubled by the work, but stayed longer than he wishes he had, because the pay was good, the work was engaging, and while he found Jones a troubled and sometimes terrifying man, Owens still sought his approval. After leaving InfoWars, Owens spoke out against conspiratorial thinking, in writing, in appearing in the HBO documentary The Truth versus Alex Jones, and by providing a deposition in the successful defamation case the parents of Sandy Hook children brought against Jones. Josh Owens' book is The Madness of Believing, a memoir from inside Alex Jones' conspiracy machine.

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