Two main issues in this movie related to journalistic ethics were completely fabricating stories and also manufacturing fake sources to back up the fabricated stories being presented as fact. These two issues are extremely harmful to not only the newspaper organization but to the public as well. When the articles by Steven Glass were published, the New Republic’s paper’s reputation was immediately tarnished. When Glass shared his fabricated story with the public, the newspaper was no longer considered a credible source because the story, and many others before had gone through the editing process and no flags were raised. This was also an issue because now the public is less likely to believe certain stories the media presents them with each time it is known that news is fictitious.
I think that Glass did this not because he intended to deceive, but because he felt extremely pressured every day to produce stories, produce them quickly and produce entertaining stories. It can be very stressful to try and come up with an incredible, eye-catching story under a tight deadline. By taking these actions, Glass brought up ethical issues like credibility and source citing. Some of the journalistic values he put in jeopardy are giving the public an unbiased view of information and news that is happening in the world. In the scholarly article “Weblogs and Journalism: Do They Connect,” author Rebecca Blood connects the case of Jayson Blair to fabricating stories. She goes on to say that whatever the journalist’s reputation is, journalism is characterized by strict adherence to certain accepted principles and standards. These standards include being truthful and correctly citing real sources to stories. In another scholarly article, “Press Crimes,” the author claims that there can be even worse effects of fabricating stories than just public disbelief and credibility problems. In a specific situation cited, a Serbian photographer lied about a claim that certain ethnic groups had been fighting. Because of this claim and the following news report, the tension rose between the two groups and many more people were killed than originally estimated.
I think some possible solutions to avoid problems like this are to still have deadlines, but to allow leeway for journalists in situations like this. I also think there should be more of an editorial power over journalists to prevent them from fabricating stories and sources. The process of fact-checking needs to be more extensive. Finally, I think newspaper companies should have a vigorous hiring process so that they have the best of the best journalists under their organizations and are able to trust them. I learned from doing this research and in class that fabricating stories in media is benefitting no one and only does harm in the long run. I would have resolved the problem in the same way as the New Republic did in the film, I would have printed retractions and sincerely apologized for the journalist who broke the trust of the public and attempt to gain back credibility over time.
Press Crimes? By: Stoparic, Bojana, Columbia Journalism Review, 0010194X, Mar/Apr2010, Vol. 48, Issue 6
Blood, R. (2003). Weblogs and Journalism: Do They Connect? Weblogs and Journalism. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
