Shattered Glass is a movie about a journalist, Stephen Glass, who fabricated most of his news stories, he wrote on events that never had occurred, and the articles was published on The New Republic. He fabricated his story based on his own imagination, he liked to see when other journalists are engaged in his stories, because his story was entertaining and humorous. He eventually became the young rising star of The New Republic.
The two ethical messages that the movie convey is trustworthiness and fabrication. A journalist need to give reader their trusts; journalists should never plagiarise or fabricate stories. Once you break your own trust, it is really hard to get your readers attention back. A journalist need to be responsible to what he writes, even if it is just a quote from a interviewee, the journalist still cannot make up information for them.
When Stephen Glass fabricated his story, he made fake business cards, he created fake websites, and he lied to his editor to save himself. He just did not want to admit that he created all the characters. He started up to put fake characters in his articles, and once he started it, the story gets bigger and bigger. He could not stop faking, and he ended up making up the entire article.
Stephen Glass made the wrong choice of getting more reader’s attention, he chose the unethical way. According to Facts and Friction, Stephen Glass indicated that “I had no defence for what I had done. And worse, I couldn’t even rally explain…, how I had come to do it. I had crossed a line that some journalists…, would never cross even in fantasy. And even those who might have crossed it in fantasy still could not understand. For them, I had gone somewhere only fantasy could go. It would be like trying to explain to someone how to suspend disbelief, either you could, or you couldn’t. If you had to ask how I possibly could have fabricated, how I could have dared, you’d never know – and you’d be fortunate not to.” (Beckerman, G.) I think this is a really strong quote, it indicated how frustrated he was, and also how he just couldn’t stop himself from it. Fabricating is just a thing that is unexplainable for him.
According to Why They Lie, fabricating includes personal factors that we might place under the heading of psychological disability. Due to his compulsively imaginative, he was surprised to find out his story was fabricated. Out of 41 pieces, 27 were fabricated. (Shapiro, I) At the beginning, he still did not want to admit he was wrong, he kept on saying, “what did I do” in the movie. It was until the point where his lie couldn’t even make sense, and he admitted his fault.
After watching the film, I have learned that we could never put any fake information in the story, not even a bit. Being a journalist is to be honest not only with yourself but also with readers. Although readers are important for your career, however, you may just fall into the unethical zone, and it will take a long time to gain your reputation back. Although Glass has an amazing personality where his colleagues all liked him so much, but the unethical things he did, crashed his career.
References
Beckerman, G. (2003). Facts and Fictions. Columbia Journalism Review, 42(3), 54-55.
Shapiro, I. (2006). Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating. Canadian Journal Of Communication, 31(1), 261-266.