Situation Definition
The movie Shattered Glass was about a young journalist names Stephen Glass who was a writer for the New Republic. He was very talented but his talent landed him in trouble. The newspaper found Glass guilty of fabricating more than half of his news stories. He was fired and was never hired as a journalist ever again. The two ethical messages from the movie are Why did Stephen Glass lie? Why does deception continue to happen in the newsroom ?
Analysis
Stephen Glass was a people pleaser. He received high praise from both his editors and colleagues on all of his stories. In this situation Glass faced an ethical dilemma tell the truth and have everyone mad at him. Or continue to lie and make those around him happy. He was very manipulative, for example multiple times in the movie when anyone would confront him about something, Glass would ask “Are your mad at me?” (Ehrlich, 2005, pg. 107). Glass would do this to avoid conflict and show that he was an innocent kid. Glass broke one of the biggest principals in journalism which is truth and accuracy. A journalist duty is to provide accurate and truthful information to the public.
Why plagiarism and fabrication continue to happen in the newsroom? According to Lasorsa & Jia (2007) one reason is “the lack of communication kept, warnings signs from being shared among different newsroom units.” (pg. 171). In the Jayson Blair case, one of the editors thought it was very odd that he was writing for various departments within New York Times. The editor did not say anything. A solution for this problem is to encourage anyone in the workplace that sees anything out of the ordinary or questions something to report it to a higher authority figure. The second issue is the personal bond between editors and the reporter. In the movie Charles Lane knew something was odd about of few of Glass’s stories but because of his personal bond with Glass he ignored the warning signs. He didn’t want to suspect that this his most talented report and friend was guilty of fabrication. A solution to this Lasora & Jia suggest “The more willing and able an editor is to assume that a reporter may be untrustworthy, the better equipped that editor will be to avoid a newsroom scandal.” (pg. 171). An editor’s job is to do a final check on all stories to make sure that everything is factual and error free.
Conclusion
Overall the movie showed the consequences of what happens when journalist fail to tell the truth. Unfortunately, plagiarism and fabrication are two problems that many newsrooms battle with on a daily basis. In order to prevent another scandal like this from happening the ethics code must be enforced and practiced in every newsroom big and small. Editors must explain the consequences for violating the code especially to younger journalist that are new to the company. There needs to be an open dialogue between editors and reports. So that reporters can let the editor know ahead of time any issues that they are having with a story. These preventative measures will help decrease the amount of deception in the newsroom.
References
- Lasorsa, D. L., & Jia, D. (2007). NEWSROOM’S NORMAL ACCIDENT? Journalism Practice, 1(2), 159-174. doi:10.1080/17512780701275473
- Ehrlich, M. C. (2005). Shattered Glass, Movies, and the Free Press Myth. Journal Of Communication Inquiry, 29(2), 103-118. doi:10.1177/0196859904272741