Film Challenge #4

The story of Stephen Glass at The New Republic is a harsh blow to the credibility of journalists. Fabricating sources, let alone entire stories, goes against everything that journalism stands for. While something like this may have been more common and easier to get away with in the past, the Internet has made it nearly impossible to get away with something like this today. Glass was only 24 years old at the time and wanted nothing more than to be a successful journalist. However, his desired greatness and popularity caused him to do something he could not be forgiven for.

At the time of Glass’ employment at The New Republic, the Internet age was growing rapidly. People were able to find information just by searching it online instead of looking in printed records or searching through phone books to call people. More importantly, newsworthy information that didn’t appear online was suspicious. In a similar situation to Glass’, Jayson Blair, former writer for The New York Times, was caught fabricating stories a few years after Glass. However, he was initially caught for plagiarizing several pieces from other well-known papers. Glass wasn’t plagiarizing his stories, but he was susceptible to the Internet search. Forbes writer, Adam Penenberg’s keyword search led to the unveiling of Glass’ lies.

From Glass’ point of view, it seems as though he was under a lot of pressure as a young journalist. As stated in the beginning, the median age at The New Republic was 26. Most of his co-workers were young as well and he wanted to stand out and be different from his peers. When he told his completely made-up stories in the conference room, they all loved it and adored him. That much attention and fame is hard to step away from once you’ve gotten a taste of it.

While Glass can play the young and stupid card, there is no denying that he knew what he did was wrong. One of the core obligations of journalism is to seek the truth and report it. He claims that Chuck was just going after him because he was loyal to his previous editor, Michael, and he should’ve been supporting him as one of his reporters. But Chuck was just doing his job by keeping his reporters accountable. Glass says in the movie that his job is great because The New Republic is read by people who matter and they have a chance to really shape public opinion. Making up stories to shape opinions only leads to a loss of credibility, trust, and loyalty.

Glass should have just come right out and admitted that his story was fake the first time he was questioned. He may have gotten off with a minor suspension had he confessed earlier, but that’s nothing compared to being labeled a liar for the rest of your life. His constant lying, fake phone numbers, and fake website just made his situation worse. This story provides a lesson to all journalists, especially in today’s age, that the hunger for a juicy story should never overshadow the obligation of a journalist. If you risk writing a fabricated story for more attention and fame, you’re also risking your respect in the field of journalism and as a person, and that is not something you can afford to lose.

Sources

Shattered Glass

http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

https://storify.com/nicole_kraft/media-law-and-ethics-in-film-comm-3404 (Lecture Slides)

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