Was Stephen Glass a fact checker or a faker? In his two and half year career, Glass became a staff writer at The New Republic; however, this young and successful journalist was caught for his unethical behavior in May 1998. Later, the magazine acknowledged that Glass fabricated in 27 of the 41 published stories. Moreover, Glass concocted the source, quotes and partial or entire articles. Unfortunately, when we look into the history of journalism, Stephen Glass was not alone. Therefore, two main issues will be discussed in this blog. The first is people’s desperate desire to put their name in print, and the second is about fabrication, falsification and plagiarism.
According to Foreman (2010), the delusion is that “the pressure (to meet high expectations) is so great that they have no choice; that no one will ever know about their moral shortcut; or even that fictional technique can express a greater truth.” (p. 125). On the contrary, when Glass was interviewed by CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes, he said: “I want every story to be a home run.” If this is the case, there is no need to convince us that these cheaters were in a dilemma between journalism ethics and pressures from the editor’s room. It is because “thoroughness and sobriety can be seen as official virtues, whereas the unique take and standing out from the crowd are outlaw virtues.” (Ehrlich, 2005, p.12) And apparently, it does not matter how talented Glass was, not including the foregoing spirit. Another issue shows the common habit of fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. An article by Christopher Martyn states “as many recent examples have shown, current editorial and peer review processes fail to prevent fraudulent research getting into print, even in the most prestigious journals… of course, no sharp line between fraud and error.” (p. 2) Thus, we have to not only examine the media channel but also think critically and independently.
One current event I want to raise is a campaign against Pro-China media monopoly in Taiwan. In order to protest the Want Want China Times Group, the Deputy Chief Editor of China Times, Jungshin Ho, resigned. As a founding chairman of the Taiwan Journalist Association, Ho’s decision implicates the failure of corporation reforms and there are a number of journalists following his move. Comparing to what we have learned from Stephen Glass, I believe the mission and vision of journalism should be upgraded and empowered. For Jungshin Ho, all these actions are purely for professional independence; and for students who are in the college of Communication at Penn State, there is more we can consider beyond a written sample of the honor code.
To put myself in this case, if I were Stephen Glass, instead of writing a self-reflection novel, I would like to fix the fact-checking system in a more serious and precise way. In my opinion, an imperfect system tends to induce people for making mistakes easily, especially in a competitive industry. Also, strict rules and regulations will benefit from management as well. The bottom line is “do not cheat; if you are unhappy, just leave”. At least, sometimes leaving is better than staying.
Work Cited
Ehrlich, M. C. (2012). Shattered Glass, Movies, and the Free Press Myth.Jourmal of Communication Inquiry,36(4), 103-118. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://jci.sagepub.com/content/29/2/103
Foreman, G. (2010). Stolen Words, Invented Facts… Or Worse. The ethical journalist: making responsible decisions in the pursuit of news (p. 125). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Martyn, C. (2013). Fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. OJM: An International Journal of Medicine,106(2), 243-244. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/