The film Shattered Glass tells the story of Stephen Glass, a young, but promising journalist at The New Republic. At this job, Glass was found to have partially or completely fabricated over half of the pieces he wrote during his three year employment. The movie shows the downfall of Glass from an exciting and well-respected journalist to the centerpiece of one of the most damaging scandals to ever disgrace the industry.
The two ethical issues I found most intense were Glass’ rationalization for his actions, and the extent to which he worked to cover up his lies.
The New York Times mission statement reads:
“The core purpose of The New York Times is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information. Producing content of the highest quality and integrity is the basis for our reputation and the means by which we fulfill the public trust and our customers’ expectations”.
This sentiment is shared by nearly all key players in the journalism industry and has become a key factor in shaping the direction and nature that journalism has taken over time. Journalists strive to be professional, credible, and trustworthy. However, through the emergence of numerous new journalistic platforms, publications face more competition now than ever before. Patterson and Urbanski (2006) argue that because of these developments this sentiment has “been replaced by a new narrative, one rooted in beating the competition, getting the best story, and winning the most prestigious awards” (p. 830). The 24 hour news cycle, the increasing level of competition, and increased media access has led to a decreased sense of honor in the journalistic community, and a perfect example is shown in Shattered Glass. Glass wants to be the best of the best, and he is going to do whatever it takes to get himself there. In fact his decision making is ironic given his goals. He wants to be viewed as a successful, credible, trustworthy journalist. He wants this so badly that he takes actions which make him the exact opposite of those three things – unsuccessful, discredited, and untrustworthy.
I also find it interesting to see the lengths Glass goes to in order to cover up his transgressions. In order to hide his fabrication – which is already a serious ethical violation – he commits another such violation and continually deceives his employees. When Glass’ editor becomes suspicious of his famed piece Hack Heaven, he takes extreme measures to validate his story. He creates a fake website, a fake answering machine, and even fake references for his stories. This only adds to Glass’ lengthy list of lies and worsens his situation, and ultimately proves to be his undoing. He destroys himself and severely damages the reputation of the magazine he claims to love so much. Stephanie Craft (2017) examines the idea that a strict ethical code is “part of how professional journalists maintain the boundaries around—and their authority over—what constitutes journalism” (p. 262). Through his innumerable fabrications and deceptions, Glass proved that he was not fit to be a professional journalist by these standards.
We need to reexamine the concept of corporate competition in the news media industry. With the continuous advancement of technology and emergence of new media outlets, journalists need to be faster and better than ever in order to keep up. This environment fosters a lack of regard for ethical and moral codes in exchange for emphasis on competitive success. We need to eliminate the thought pattern that led Stephen Glass to making the decisions he did. If I were Glass, and I had fabricated all those stories, I would have come clean about my transgressions as soon as someone called me on it. That would be the only way to save any shred of credibility I might have left at that point.
This movie taught me the downside of greed and ambition, and showed me exactly the type of person I do not want to become in my professional career.
References
Craft, S. (2017). Distinguishing Features: Reconsidering the Link Between Journalism’s Professional Status and Ethics. Journalism & Communication Monographs,19(4), 260-301. doi:10.1177/1522637917734213
Jones Patterson, M., & Urbanski, S. (2006). WHAT JAYSON BLAIR AND JANET COOKE SAY ABOUT THE PRESS AND THE EROSION OF PUBLIC TRUST1. Journalism Studies, 7(6), 828-850.
Standards and Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.nytco.com/who-we-are/culture/standards-and-ethics/