Situation Definition:
Journalist have an obligation to get the facts and report the truth, but there have been cases when a story is partially or completely fabricated. Fabrication is the making up of material and passing it off as genuine. Regardless of the platform, fabrication destroys the credibility of offending journalist. It is an ethical disaster.
The movie “Shattered Glass” depicts the controversial life of journalist Stephen Glass. Glass was a writer for the New Republic and during his time there he fabricated at least twenty-seven of his forty-one articles. He is now known as one of the greatest journalistic liars in American history. Two ethical issues brought to light in “Shattered Glass” are lying and the misuse of trust.
Analysis:
Stephan Glass was a master manipulator. He unjustifiably made up stories, sources, and personas all to create what he viewed as the perfect story. Glass was dishonest with his colleagues, editors, readers, and even himself at times. He started out with little lies in a story like the minifridge full of air-plane bottles that were all drank, but one lie in a story turned into two, which turned into three, which eventually led to an entire story being completely fabricated like “Hack Heaven.”
All it takes is one unethical journalist to report a fabricated story and ruin it for everyone else. “These cases put a black eye on all of journalism,” Schmedding said. “Credibility has always been critical, but never more than now when media companies and trained journalists are telling readers their news is worth paying for because they are more reliable.” Once it was discovered that Glass lied in more than half of his stories about sources and details, it put the New Republic under a microscope and their brand has a whole lost its reputation.
Lying not only ruined Glass’s career but it ruined the careers of those who worked closely with him. You wonder how an entire story could get posted that doesn’t have a single true fact in it. There are supposed to be fact checkers and editors and more fact checkers; but when the only facts to check can be verified off of the journalist’s notes, you have to hope that their notes are accurate. Glass used the trust his collogues had for him against them. He knew that they all thought of him as not only a good reporter but a friend, and who doesn’t trust a friend?
Molina-Morales says that, “We define trust as the mutual confidence between parties to an exchange that none of them will engage in opportunistic behaviour that would exploit any others’ vulnerabilities, and thereby violate the values, principles and standards of behaviour.” It is safe to say that Glass did more than just exploit the trust of those around him. He wasn’t just telling little white lies that do no harm, his lies costs others their jobs and careers.
These two ethical issues, lying and misuse of trust, are so appalling because they cause more damage to others then they do to the perpetrator. Sure, Glass lost his job as a journalist, but the public lost its trust in reporting. If one reporter can do that much damage at one news outlet and not be caught until it’s too late, who’s to say everyone isn’t fabricating their stories. The journalistic organization has to deal with these allegations every day, they shouldn’t have to be concerned that it’s actually true.
Conclusion:
The movie does a great job at showcasing an eager and aspiring journalist that wants to make his mark in the world. They even show numerous ethical dilemmas that Glass encountered throughout his reporting. I think one solution for Glass’s lying would have been for him to come clean sooner. Everyone gets overwhelmed and needs help, I think if he was more honest with his editor that he didn’t have enough for a story or he didn’t have a story idea he would have been cut some slack. Or even if he had fessed up sooner his punishment and the repercussions would not have been as serious. I think the perfect opportunity for him to come clean would have been when his editor questioned him about the minifridge beverages that he mentioned in one of his stories.
A solution the New Republic could have had to stop the misuse of trust would be for their fact checkers to need more concrete proof of sources and details. Someone made a comment in the end of the movie that pictures could have proved the people and places. I imagine it would have been very difficult for Glass to fabricate pictures of the summit that he mentioned in “Hack Heaven” or fabricate a headshot for every source he quoted. While yes, it is easy to edit a picture after it’s been taken, it would have been nearly impossible to create a photo of someone or something that never existed.
References:
Schmedding (2013, January). National Journalism Organizations Partner for Summit to Stop Plagiarism and Fabrication. Retrieved September 20, 2018 from https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1282177619?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:summon&accountid=13158
Xavier Molina-Morales (2011, April). The Dark Side of Trust: The Benefits, Costs and Optimal Levels of Trust for Innovation Performance. Retrieved September 20,2018 from https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/science/article/pii/S0024630111000033