Shattered Glass is the documentary we viewed based on the controversial actions of journalist Stephen Glass. Glass reported numerous miraculous stories and in doing so built a name for himself. However, they were so miraculous, because he made them all up. He went to the extent of coming up with fake names, events, references, people, etc., to make his stories believable and to make sure they would be published.
Lying like that as a journalist is very immoral, and I believe should result in intimidate termination. The whole purpose of a journalist is to report the fact to the people. The facts, no matter how bland they may be, not fabricated stories for one’s own benefit. Glass continued to lie, because his lies made him a more notable journalist. He wasn’t doing it to benefit the public/readers, but rather to benefit himself. Readers weren’t becoming informed of current events, just made up stories.
Glass is seen as the “biggest hoax in modern American journalistic history,” according to Matthew C. Ehrlich. Without a doubt, his case may be the biggest journalist scandals of recent times. Although he made himself remarkably good at lying and covering up his tracks, he still managed to get caught, which should serve as a warning for aspiring journalists that even the sliest of liars will get what’s coming to them eventually. Not only that, but it is completely unethical. Again, journalism is about reporting the facts to the people. It’s not about offering opinions or skewing stories to influence one’s views on the content at hand, but rather to provide true, hard facts and let the reader develop their own stances. What Glass did was the complete opposite. Not only was it unethical in every way, but also should serve as an example of what to never do as a journalist.