Situational Definition
The movie Shattered Glass by Billy Ray tells the story of the young journalist Steven Glass who managed to fool the whole country with the faked news and stories. Accordingly, he has made up 27 of his 41 article in order to tell the better stories and make them more appealing to the readers. Because of the fact that Glass had a great reputation among the colleagues and readers, nobody considered his works to be suspicious. Therefore, the movie exposes two significant ethical issues: the influence of the author’s status and reputation on the audience and the lies in media.
Analysis
The Steven Glass’s actions cannot be justified and are completely opposite to the journalist’s duties. Nevertheless, the other journalists and the editors are also guilty in this case. Steven had the great reputation among the other journalists and this fact blinded their attention. Therefore, Glass can be considered as the professional liar who used his status and reputation to avoid suspicions. He has used the fact that people are more likely to believe the facts that match with their beliefs (Lopez, 2016) to create great stories and fake news. Moreover, statistics claim the speaker’s appearance and status create the 55% of the overhaul impact on the audience(Mehrabian). Therefore, status and the relationships with the colleagues permitted the lair to publish 27 fake articles.
The techniques used by Steven Glass are not innovative and can be spotted in the different types of media and the human relationships. People usually pay much attention to the speaker’s look and status instead of the information itself. This fact is used by the business trainers who merely want to make money from the naive customers by showing the prestige of the speaker and repeating motivational quotes. Furthermore, the advertising of the products by the famous people or bloggers also appeals the audience. Thought the text of the commercial may have nothing in common with the real conditions, people will still believe because they were told by the person that is considered to be reliable. Therefore, the lack of skepticism and concentrating on the speaker’s appearance may cause the scandals similar to the one in the movie Shattered Glass.
Other crucial ethic issues are the lies that are broadcasted and spread among people by the media. People usually read only several newspapers or magazines and do not check the information that they have seen there. Therefore, the sources become more and more popular and gain the people’s trust. Nevertheless, it does not mean that the publisher follows the ethical standards and provides the audience with the most reliable content. Accordingly, the great magazines are able to spread paid and made up news to receive the income or new audience (Shermer, 2002). Similar to the speaker’s effect, media can also blind the audience with its status and reputation.
Despite the profit, fake news can also be used as a tool of propaganda. All the media have their owners who have the specific political views, and they are often influencing the content of the publications. Moreover, with the popularization of the Internet and social media, it has become much simpler to spread the fake news by targeting the specific audience that is more likely to believe and spread them (Yates, 2017). Furthermore, despite the articles in the newspapers, the news on the Internet are very difficult to track and analyze their influence on the audience.
Conclusion
People can be easily fooled by the reputation of the speaker or media. The fact that users do not usually check the correctness of the consumed information allows the newsmakers to manipulate their beliefs and opinions. With the development of technologies, it is becoming more obvious to spread the propagandist messages and fake news. Nevertheless, the best way to solve the issue is to read and listen to the news with the larger amount of skepticism. In case people check the sources, think critically, and spread only the credible information, fake news will be less powerful, and the situation similar to the one from Shattered Glass will not repeat in the real life.
References
Shermer, M. (2002). Why people believe weird things: Pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time. Holt Paperbacks. Lopez, L. (2016, December 08). Why people believe Trump's lies, fake news, and conspiracy theories. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-believe-trump-lies-and-conspiracy-theories-2016-12 Mehrabian, A. (n.d.). Westside Toastmasters is located in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/talk_your_way/lib0009.html Yates, S. (2017, February 14). 'Fake news' – why people believe it and what can be done to counter it. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/fake-news-people-believe-can-done-counter