Stephen Glass was more than unethical, he was a liar and a cheat. To begin Glass failed to accomplish the simplest of tasks that all journalists are given, the job to seek the truth and report it. According to the Society of Professional Journalists’s code of ethics, journalists must verify information before releasing it and must gather and update correct information for a story. These are just a few of the things Glass did not do.
Also according to SPJ journalists must verify and identify their sources clearly, something Glass could not achieve. From his story about a teenage computer hacker to his story about the college republican committee, Glass would make up facts and people completely out of the blue. Stephen Glass completely failed as a journalist, about the only thing he did good according to the SJP ethics code is to use “original” sources when possible.
I believe Glass did the things he did as a journalist for a few reasons. First, I think he just thought he was flat out smarter than everyone and believed he could get away with what he was doing. Second, he did not have any morals; and his selfish ways got him into the trouble that came. According to Lucinda Davenport in, A Question of Journalism Ethics, one must use their knowledge to help others needs not simply to achieve their own ends. Finally, I believe Glass enjoyed being received the way he was in the office whenever he presented one of his far out stories.
In short, Glass was a selfish person and a selfish journalist. He only cared about himself and that is why, in my opinion, he went down the path he did. Glass could have potentially ruined a lot of people careers by doing what he did. Because he chose to completely fabricate stories those that worked with him, and those he worked for, could have faced severe penalty.
Glass felt like he was a rockstar amongst the other journalists in the office. They cheered him on and laughed at his every word when he told them about his stories. It definitely gave him more of a motive to lie and fabricate his stories. I can guess that he got some sort of adrenaline rush from tricking his co-workers and getting their praise at the same time.
If I were Glass, I would have admitted to what I did right after I lied in my first story and it got published. I would have told my editor that I stretched some of the facts to make it more interesting and that I would never do it again. I would write a retraction story and apologize for doing what I had did. I also, would probably ask for a self imposed suspension as to punish myself.
From the standpoint of an editor I would have handled things similarly to how Charles Lane did. I would have confronted Stephen and asked him to show me exactly where these things had taken place. In the end, I would ultimately choose to fire Stephen Glass from the magazine for his lack of morals as a journalist and his lack of respect for others in the workplace. In my opinion, Stephen Glass failed in all facets of his job.
Sources:
http://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=suscholar
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp