Blog 2 – “Shattered Glass” By: Eric Yarnell
Part One
The movie Shattered Glass is about a young, charismatic journalist, Stephen Glass, who works for the magazine The New Republic. In the beginning of the film, Glass come across as this innocent, outgoing reporter that is loved by his colleagues and supervisors. For one of his stories at the beginning of the film, the editor at the time questions some of his facts for one of his stories, but he is able to provide notes for that specific story. At one point in the film, he is seen sitting at a table with all of his colleagues, talking about one of his stories, and they were all laughing and carrying on about it. When one of his stories, about a made up tech company called Jukt Micronics, was found to be fabricated, there was a snowball effect thereafter as 27 of the 41 stories that he wrote for the magazine were partially or totally fabricated. That in turned hurt his career, and tarnished the reputation of the magazine.
Two ethical issues discussed in class jump out right away at me from this film. One, it is a journalistic sin to fabricate or make up a story, as it is our duty to provide the public with honest, fact based reporting. Second, is the issue of deceiving your colleagues and your audience. When discussion deception, those are the only two instances when deception is not ethically acceptable.
Part 2
One could possibly wonder, “why would Glass do such a thing like that?” As stated in lecture, there are a couple of reasons he could have fabricated and deceived his colleagues. One of the reasons is since he was a young reporter at such a high profile magazine, he could have felt the need to get a good story out no matter what. Two, he could have also felt a great deal of deadline pressure. In the article, “Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams” by Jefferson Spurlock, he cited how Saltz (2004) observes that liars “lie to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially, and avoid punishment”(Spurlock 2016). Also in the article, Spurlock states that in an interview with Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes in 2003, Glass said, “I loved the electricity of people liking my stories. I loved going to story conferences and telling people what my story was going to be, and seeing the room excited. I wanted every story to be a home run.”(Glass 2003, Spurlock 2016). With that quote, Glass is essentially admitting to purposely fabricating and deceiving his colleagues in order for them to like and, and for him to gain personal satisfaction.
In the article, “Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating” by Ivor Shapiro, Shapiro writes that Glass’s book, The Fabulist, “drips with self pity”(Shapiro 2006). Shapiro also states that internal reasons, such as childhood abuse and depression are factors in why journalists are lead to lie (Shapiro 2006). The article also states another well known journalist who was caught fabricating is Jayson Blair, who was black, and that racism could have been an underlying cause as to why he was fabricating (Shapiro 2006).
Conclusion
Overall, I think Stephen Glass should have experienced the growing pains of being a young reporter. It would have been the better for him, made him a better writer in the long run, and he would have not tarnished his reputation, along with the entire New Republic. I think today, with how the internet has progressed since this incident happened, Glass would not have lasted very long at the magazine, as readers would simply be able to Google his stories and be able to call him out if he was lying. I also take this as an important lesson, as it has reminded me to always be honest and to practice integrity.
Sources:
Shapiro, I. (2006). Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating. Canadian Journal of Communication, 31(1), 261–266. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=20591083&site=ehost-live&scope=site
SPURLOCK, J. (2016). Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 73(1), 71–76. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=125698524&site=ehost-live&scope=site