Lexington Trotta
Dr. Zhong
COMM 409
2/14/18
Shattered Glass Blog
Part I: Situation Definition
In journalism, it is very important to tell the truth and to be transparent. A journalist should have a set of moral principles that guide his or her conduct — ethics (Foreman, pp 16). In the movie shown in class, Shattered Glass, a young new journalist named Stephen Glass displays unethical actions and ends up reaping the repercussions of his actions. Two of the main issues that gave me intense ethical messages was the fabrication of over half of his stories and the fact that he lied over and over again to cover up his made-up tales.
Fabrication is the act of making things up and passing them as real (Foreman, pp 134). A prime example of fabrication in the textbook The Ethical Journalist is Stephen Glass’ story. Another example is from a woman named Janet Cooke, who made up a story about a very young boy addicted to drugs and won a Pulitzer prize. The prize had to be returned once everyone found out the story was phony.Instead of just one story, however, Glass deliberately lied to cover his tracks.
Part II: Analysis
I believe Stephen Glass fabricated all those stories because he wanted to feel extremely accomplished and he wanted to make his stories fun and extraordinary. On an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Glass explained how he loved the electricity of people liking his stories and going to conferences and going into detail about his next story and seeing excitement (Spurlock, pp 73). Glass handed out disinformation to his viewers, his editors and staff, and he deceived himself for believing that he was going to come out on top of this situation. He believed that he was smarter than everyone else, which is belittling to all the people who took the time to read and enjoy his writings.
The first and most important journalistic value that comes into play for this situation is truth and accuracy. Glass did not have the correct moral principles embedded in his mind for writing journalistic stories, but rather he was focused on the positive feedback he received for his fake stories. He completely disregarded the code of ethics followed universally for journalists. The next journalistic value that was dismissed was fairness and impartiality. Glass was not fair to the readers of The New Republic nor was he fair to his staff members. His stories were one sided (only his word and fabricated character word) and therefore unbalanced.
Another instance of bad journalism is from a journalist named Jayson Blair. Blair was a journalist from The New York Times who fabricated and plagiarised many times. The sources that he said he got his stories from were untrue, but no one ever spoke up as they felt no one would listen (Schotz, pp 31).
If I were caught in this situation, I would immediately resign so I would not have to face being fired by higher authorities. I would probably not end up in the same situation as Glass or Blair, but if I did, I would most likely quit journalism and try to search for another job. I would recommend to anyone in that situation to immediately stop plagiarising and fabricating and to tell the truth.
III. Conclusion
I think that what Stephen Glass did was completely immoral. Although some people may have pity for him and believe him to have just been a “messed up kid”, he had been tricking, lying, deceiving and belittling anyone who read his work. It is unacceptable to make up stories out of thin air and claim them to be true. I think what Glass got as a consequence was a good solution to this problem. I think he deserved to be fired, and the apology to the viewers was also a good choice. Personally, I would have done the same thing — I would have fired the serial fabricator and I would have written an apology to all the viewers of the company magazine/newspaper.
I believe that a way not to get into this predicament of fabrication and plagiarism in the first place is to be truthful and to remember the five core principles of journalism — seek truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity and accountability (http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism). With these five ideas in mind, it would be extraordinary difficult to wind up in a situation where making up stories or lying becomes an issue.
IV. References
Foreman, G. (2016). The ethical Journalist: making responsible decisions in the digital age. Hoboken: Wiley.
Five Principles of Journalism – Media Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/who-we-are/5-principles-of-journalism
Schotz, Andy. (2009, January 1st). Be accountable to your public. Vol. 97 (Issue 1), pp. 31. Retrieved from: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=6525cc55-bc24-4fc3-8272-7f0ee2437b71%40pdc-v-sessmgr01
Spurlock, J. (2016, January 1st). Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. Vol. 73 (Issue 1), pp. 73. Retreived from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=97cb57b5-9b6b-45db-9cd2-1a2b4c4aa5f3%40sessionmgr4006