Situation definition
Shattered glass is based on the real story of “Stephen Glass”. The issue from this movie is about “Truth”. This movie tells how the lies was uncovered. The publication’s reporter Stephen Glass ha fabricate about 27 stories at “The New Republic”. Stephan is good at story telling at material conference in newsroom. He has a great reputation from his colleagues an get trust from his editor, Michael.
Another issue is “responsibility”. Steven’s fake news were already published to the public. False information has a huge impact on people and their lives. Like movie’s title “Shatter Glass”, there is no way to recover the trust from audience once they lose trusts and reputations.
Analysis
While Stephen has been popular with interesting stories, his colleague Chuck has doubt in Stephen’s articles. Although Stephen’s articles were all lies, without any truth in his stories, no one could find any evidence or proof. Chuck could not prove anything from his article because he wanted to trust Stephen a lot.
“Although some storytelling contexts make outlaw characteristics heroic (as when individuals right wrongs by taking matters into their own hands), Glass is depicted as going beyond the pale, lying and betraying the trust of his colleagues and friends.” (Matthew C, 2005, p.115)
“Hack Heaven”, which is Stephen’s final article, was proven that it was lie by the suspicion of competitive company. As competitive companies insist that Stephen’s article was not true, Chuck found out his article is fabrication an realize he was liar. Stephen got punishment of 2-year-penalty. Chuck realize it was not by accident and he had forged over and over. Chuck fire Stephen because he was disappointed and felt betrayed by him as a colleague. Stephen pursed his fame and ambition about his career. After he graduated college, he just was hired. His immature brought on harm to people including his colleague and friends.
“Thus, he is made to pay for his transgressions. Shattered Glass symbolically delivers justice to Glass by making him a scapegoat whose deviance from consensual norms is duly punished to “serve and preserve social order” (Lule, 2001, 191; see also pp. 62-63).
Conclusion
Shattered Glass is one of the biggest scandals in the history of journalism. “Half of the journalism industry was chomping at the bit for the film while the other half wished it would go away” (“Rapping on the ‘Glass,’” 2003-2004, p.13). This ethical issue in journalism has been always risen because of its ethical and responsibility’s problem for accurate information to audiences. ‘Jason Blair’s scandal was also well known for this issue. Being a good journalist to solve the issue, our moral honesty is most important. Being accurate and telling the truth are always the best as a journalist. It is very important to be truthful. If we pursue the truth, we get trust from audience and more audience would find our stories.
Reference
Lule, J. (2001). Daily news, eternal stories. New York: Guilford.
Rapping on the “glass.” (2003-2004, December-January). American Journalism Review,25,13. Ray, B., & Lane, C. (2004). Audio commentary. Shattered glass [DVD]. United States: Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
Matthew C. Ehrlich. Shattered Glass, Movies, and the Free Press Myth. Journal of Communication Inquiry. Vol 29, Issue 2, pp. 103 – 118. First Published April 1, 2005