SITUATION DEFINITION:
Stephen Glass, according to Vanity Fair, “was the most sought-after young reporter in the nation’s capital” (Bissinger, 1998). That all changed, however, whenever Glass was caught in a web of lies that turned his entire career upside down.
Many ethical issues arose throughout the time span of Glass’s career. During his time with The New Republic, he fabricated a vast amount of the articles he had written, all whilst deceiving others who were to fact check his sources. Fabrication, by making stories up, is altogether dishonest to journalists’, in this case Glass’s, audience and damages the organization he had written for. These are two of several ethical issues involved within Stephen Glass’s ill-founded journalism career.
ANALYSIS:
Fabrication is one of the two main wrongdoings within the world of a journalist. Unfortunately for Glass, a lot of his work is a product of fabrication, although the only person he has to blame is himself. To create untrue stories and to play them off as though they are genuine and factual is a major ethical issue, and puts a lot at stake. First, whenever a journalist publishes fabricated articles, it is dishonest to the targeted readers and audience. Glass was very untruthful with his audience, however, as a journalist, you are to be a trusting public eye. As stated in a scholarly journal from Duquesne University, based on the press and public truth, “This mission of public trust, as we will try to show, is journalism’s guiding light by which it illuminates its primary values of truth, loyalty to citizens, and duty to verify” (Patterson & Urbanski, 2006). As quoted here, journalism and journalists are meant to value truth and its loyalty to their audience.
Subsequently, adding to the ethical issues at stake, fabrication is hurtful to the organization that the journalist wrote for, such as how Glass gave a bad name for The New Republic. For example, when Jayson Blair fabricated a vast amount of stories for The New York Times, they released an apology saying that the fabrication committed by Blair “represent(s) a profound betrayal of trust and a low point in the 152-history of the newspaper” (New York Times, 2003, p. 1). In addition, the publisher of The New York Times said, “It’s an abrogation of the trust between the newspaper and its readers” (Barstow, 2003, p.1). As seen here, it is clear that a sole journalist can hurt a newspaper severely, just as Glass had did. The New Republic will always have a reputation of being the magazine where Stephen Glass fabricated stories.
So why exactly did Glass decide to fabricate many of his articles? Integrity and organization plays a huge factor, not only with Glass individually, but with The New Republic as well. Glass’s act of fabrication was no accident, seeing as though 27 of his 41 articles were made-up (Foreman, p. 127). It almost seems as though Glass was too lazy to put forth the effort to write factual stories. Furthermore, many believe a journalist may decide to fabricate in order to boost their own career – as selfish as that is. Alas, One will never truly know why an individual would decide to lie, especially as a journalist.
At the University of Texas, a study was done that observed ten journalism cases of deception, including the Glass case. Here, they searched for explanations as to why and how these offenses occurred. At the end of this scholarly journal, the authors concluded that out of the ten cases studied, nine had clear warning signs that were disregarded by the news companies (Lasorsa & Dai, 2007). They list several reasons as to why an organization can be blamed for a journalist’s deception, including unclear communication, too personal of relationships with editors, inappropriate accessibility to newsrooms, and poor fact checking (Lasorsa & Dai, 2007). Of those listed, many apply to Glass and The New Republic, especially how Glass had a personal relationship with his editor. Although a news organization can be slightly at fault for one of their employees, ultimately the journalist who made the mistake is the primary offender.
CONCLUSION:
There is never a simple solution to cope with a journalist’s offenses. A journalist who fabricates or plagiarizes is never forgiven in the end. They already broke their trust with not only the news company they worked for, but also the public at hand. The best solution for Steve Glass is to simply apologize, which may relieve them of some public embarrassment. Likewise, The New Republic’s best option is to do the same. Admitting to your wrongdoings and flaws is the best solution – other than being ethical in the first place.
At the end of the day, Stephen Glass is now known as a fabricator and ex-journalist, and many lessons can be taken from his actions. Glass caught himself up in entirely too many ethical issues, such as being untruthful to the public and hurting The New Republic, which could have been easily avoided. I, as a future journalist, have learned from his profound mistakes – shaping me to be honest and someone who values ethics and trust within the world of journalism.
REFERENCES:
Barstow, D. (2003, May 10). Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception.
Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html?pagewanted=2
Bissinger, B. (1998, September 1). Shattered Glass. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1998/09/bissinger199809
Foreman, G. (2010). Stolen Words, Invented Facts … Or Worse. In The ethical journalist: Making responsible decisions in the pursuit of news (p. 127). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lasorsa, D., & Dai, J. (2007). Newsroom’s Normal Accident? Journalism Practice, 159-174. Retrieved February 7, 2015, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu.ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=98f00a50-acb6-4fd6-82f7-8d740c9b47e1@sessionmgr4005&vid=20&hid=4107
Patterson, M., & Urbanski, S. (2006). What Jayson Blair And Janet Cooke Say About The Press And The Erosion Of Public Trust1. Journalism Studies, 828-850.