Part 1: Situation Definition
Shattered Glass is a film that delves into some of the biggest problems that journalism faces. These problems revolve around morality, or lack thereof, and accurate writing. Stephen Glass, the main character in the film, seems like a very likeable man at the beginning of the film. However, as the film progresses his true colors begin to present themselves.
When Forbes electronic magazine begins to suspect that one of Glass’s articles is largely inaccurate, the audience begins to realize that Glass is not everything that he seems to be. Due to Forbes investigation into the article, it quickly is discovered that Glass fabricated the entire story. Glass even went as far as to make fake emails, websites, and even voicemails to help keep his credibility intact. These attempts ended up being futile and the world soon discovered two major issues with Stephen Glass, his lack of morality and the inaccuracy of his writing.
Part 2: Analysis
One reason that Stephen Glass fabricated so many of his stories was because he liked being treated like a rock star journalist. In the film Glass clearly enjoys the laughs and praise he gets in the newsroom of the New Republic. In an article written by Ivor Shapiro of Ryerson University he notes that, “Callahan attributes the Blair and Glass scandals to “the reaping of big rewards” that come with big success in the “star system” that divides highly paid media elites from poorly paid ordinary achievers” (Shapiro 5).
By seeking fame and fortune, Stephen Glass put several ethical issues to the side. He does not worry about misleading his readers at all. In fact, he seems to care very little about his readers but more about how other journalists and editors respect him. He also has a clear disregard for honesty, not only in his writing but also in real life. The fact that he lies in his articles is bad enough but the fact that he continues lying to his editors and fellow journalists shows he wholly dishonest.
His abandonment of many journalistic values is part of what has made his scandal such a widespread story and why there is a film dedicated to the events that transpired. Glass starts by making a small lie here and there in order to make the story more interesting, but soon starts lying on a larger scale. He completely abandons any sense of integrity, compassion for his readers, accuracy, honesty, and self-respect to further his career. Jefferson Spurlock writes that, “Sometimes reporters decide to push the envelope and let the world know of events that actually did not happen without informing the public of their fabrications” (Spurlock 1). Stephen Glass pushes this envelope past its breaking point and ruins his career because of it.
Part 3: Conclusion
The problem with presenting a solution to the ethical issues that Stephen Glass brought to light is that most publications have put measures in place to avoid these problems. However, there is undoubtedly more that they can do. To begin with, they can devote more employees and time into fact checking their journalists’ work. The problem is that this then becomes an issue of cost efficiency and wasted time. Time is something that journalists treasure so the prospect of wasting that time would cause a debate in many a newsroom.
Instead, I propose that publications put their journalists into small groups. These groups would be tasked with thoroughly fact checking each other’s work and making sure there are no inaccuracies before then sending the pieces to editors for another round of editing. These groups would additionally be held liable for each other’s work. Therefore, if one journalist publishes a piece that is largely fabricated or plagiarized, the whole group would have to take responsibility. This may not seem fair on the surface, but if people have their careers on the line it is reasonable to assume that they would critique each other’s work with a new sense of importance and urgency.
Part 4: References
Shapiro, Ivor. “Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating.” Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2006, pp. 261-266. EBSCOhost, 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