Steven Glass always seemed unsure of himself. Even as a reporter for mainstream political magazine, The New Republic, Glass’ insecurities were always worn on his sleeve. The man had a good job in the field that he loved but that was not enough to satisfy his need to be successful. It was more than success Glass wanted however; the former journalist wanted to be better than everyone else.
Instead gaining notoriety through honest reporting, Glass decided to take a shortcut. He made up quotes, people and places to make his articles sound more interesting. He even fabricated entire stories just to move up the ranks as a journalist. Glass’ inability to cope with his timid personality was the driving factor that caused him to lie for popularity. His selfish acts not only ruined the reputation of The New Republic, but it ruined the reputation of the people and places Glass wrote about.
Throughout the movie, Glass rarely showed his confident side. He hid behind his round glasses and baby face, as a shy and innocent man. His personality was not that of a reporter who could get inside information behind closed doors. And yet, that seemed like all his feature stories were. The only time Glass seemed to break out of his shell was when he was explaining the content of his stories in vivid detail to his coworkers. All of a sudden, he is a master orator, with excellent story telling abilities. Keep in mind, this grown man who asks his editor, “Are you mad at me?” at any hint of conflict like some dejected child.
Glass knew he did not have the charisma it took to acquire information to make his stories more intriguing. He fabricated pieces of the story “Spring Breakdown” to make his trip to the Conservative Political Action Conference sound more eventful. He claimed that he was in the hotel room when certain conference attendees got drunk off mini-fridge liquor and made inappropriate advances on a woman. The question of whether the hotel rooms at the conference even had mini-refrigerators raised suspicions. As a political magazine, The New Republic was already controversial for publishing this article. The fact that Glass, lied about key points in the story ruined their credibility as a source for honest journalism.
People relied on that magazine to present the truth. As an established outlet for political columns and feature stories, readers valued The New Republic for accurate information. By lying about Conservative party members, Glass could have started a huge controversy that could have had people fired and even arrested.
But when he wasn’t out fabricating pieces of stories, Glass was making them up entirely. The story “Hack Heaven” seemed legitimate to the fact-checkers at The New Republic, but that is because Glass would do anything to keep them from the truth. He created a fake voicemail account and even a fake website for “Jukt Micronics,” a company that was allegedly hacked by a teenager and proceeded to hire him as head of cyber security.
With “Hack Heaven” appearing in The New Republic, the entire magazine was put in jeopardy. When Glass was caught and the story was found out to be totally false, readers could no longer trust anything Glass had ever written, or anything the magazine had ever published.
Steven Glass insisted on being the best journalist at The New Republic. Even though his personality said otherwise, all his stories required charismatic and confident reporting. Glass didn’t have these traits, so he decided to lie. He made up stories that could have taken The New Republic off of newsstands and into irrelevancy, risking the job security of every one of his coworkers.
Robert Hauptman. (2008). How writers abuse their calling. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4ef31ca2-7991-4d77-8a08-88510ecff5ef@sessionmgr12&vid=9&hid=108
Ruth A. Palmer (2013). Context Matters. Retrieved from