Shattered Glass (2003) truly shows how difficult it is to be an aspiring reporter these days, and how hard you have to work, to do exactly the opposite of what Stephen Glass did in this movie. Stephen Glass was a 26-year-old reporter for The New Republic. Being a young reporter it is difficult to find the big stories because you have not implemented yourself as a big time writer yet, and people don’t necessarily want to talk to someone with no credibility. Stephen Glass was suppose to be this big new writer and instead went against all ethical guidelines and completely fabricated stories to promote himself in the ranks as a great reporter. Sure enough, Glass is forced to admit of his wrong doings with obviously led to his reporting profession to come to a halt. Obviously this is a very specific situation, but this leads me to believe that other reporters would do to same thing. This is blatantly going against the core values for journalism ethics, which are: “reporting the truth, credibility, plagiarism, gifts, off the record, [and] attribution (4.2).”
This directly correlates to the historic event involving New York Times reporter Jayson Blair. “Jayson Blair, 27, misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services. He selected details from photographs to create the impression he had been somewhere or seen someone, when he had not (Barry, Barstow, Glater, Liptak, Steinberg).” This is a very similar instance when it comes to fabricating stories to promote yourself within the organization, just like Stephen Glass did. Not only did he fabricate stories, but also he plagiarized other journalist’s work to increase the value of his own work. Mr. Blair was forced to resign and lost his job.
I believe this has a massive impact on journalism, especially if these actions continue to happen by journalists. Credibility, and telling the truth are the two of the most important values when it comes to ethics. Truth correlates with credibility. If a reporter continues to not tell the truth, then they will lose their credibility and will not be an effective reporter any longer. When a reporter has a large amount of credibility more people are willing to talk to them because they trust them to tell the truth. The large impact that multiple journalists can have on journalism because they fabricate stories is immense. Credibility is extremely important when it comes to journalism.
If I were Stephen Glass I would have done things much differently. First of all I wouldn’t have fabricated a story in the first place if it came to my profession. But, not only did he fabricate once he continued to do so even after he did it in the first place. He had a choice to stop, it is not a mistake it was a choice to continue to keep lying to the people who read his stories. I would have felt guilty fabricating a story to be promoted in my business. If I was ever to be a reporter I feel the most satisfying success would be honest success.
Sources
Course Lecture 4.2 – Journalism Ethical Framework
Barstow, David. “Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 May 2003. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.