Situation Definition
The story of the career of Stephen Glass in “Shattered Glass”, as seen in class, shows the ethical dilemma that modern day journalists face when it comes to honesty and loyalty to their word. Which brings me to my first ethical issue, Stephen Glass was a liar. Stephen Glass was a journalist who wrote for a large news magazine, and chose to be dishonest with his stories, and take the easy route of lying about all of his information to gain popularity and wealth. When Glass finally gets caught in the act of his constant lying over his largest article ever published, his entire career and reputation is ruined, unable to gaining any trust back in the journalism world. The issue of the story comes back to this: journalistic ethics. Ethics can be defined, by myself, as underlying values that motivate your choice to pick from wrong and right. In the journalism field, Glass broke the largest ethical value of a journalist, which is seeking the truth.
Stephen Glass chose to lie to his editors, audience, and even his own family about every article that he wrote for his publication. Glass went to lengthy measures to make up fake websites to back up his sources, involve his families phone numbers in his references, and always show his own notes that he took with, what he claimed, his own eyes as his references to his editors and peers. Which brings me to my second ethical issue, Stephen Glass knew he was lying and continued to lie to his own family and friends about lying about his material. The code of ethics in journalism to be as honest and transparent as possible was not in the cards for Stephen Glass, taking him from one of the most successful reporters to a man who could never be trusted in the work field ever again.
Analysis
When it comes to these two ethical issues, Stephen Glass lying about his material to his audience and then lying to his own family and friends about doing it, it makes you wonder why he would even get into this situation in the first place. Stephen Glass wanted his peers to respect him, and to respect the amazing content that he was distributing, which made him turn on journalistic ethics. Stephen J. A. Ward comments on this idea of journalistic ethics, “the traditional concerns of media accuracy, independence, manipulation, sources, and “special situations” are contrasted with contemporary issues about identity, scope, content, new journalism, community engagement, global impact, and ‘amplification of intolerant voices and fake news'”, showing that this is an ethical issue between a lot of journalists across the scope.
Besides being unfaithful, there are other ethical issues that Glass performed, including having false resources. Glass, when asked for his notes on articles, would go back to his home and forge notes that made it seem as if he was at the sitting at the site of the news that he wrote about. Whether it was small details about alcohol being in a mini fridge, or being at the National Hacking Convention, he made up quotes for other people in hopes that nobody would ever question his integrity. Since he became highly respected at the paper, people began to praise him for his work rather than question him for how accurate his news stories were.
Another ethical issue that Stephen Glass broke was fairness. In a workplace, especially one that involves other journalists, it is only fair that you are respectful to your coworkers and higher authorities. Glass was producing articles that had completely false information, making more money than all of his coworkers and fellow journalists due to his made-up stories. It came to a point where the other journalists at the paper were lacking motivation to produce new articles since they knew Stephen Glass’ would always be better than theirs. Fairness is a large ethical value in journalism, wanting you to be respected in the workplace by your coworkers rather than just your boss who is applauding you for your article that is getting plenty of viewers to the publishing.
Journalism is an art that is based on seeking the truth in everything written, in which Stephen Glass did not abide by. In an article titled “Fitting It All In? A Census of Undergraduate Ethics and Leadership Courses in Accredited U.S. Journalism and Mass Communication Programs”, the authors touch base on the importance of ethics in journalism. The authors contribute “journalists live, and die, by ethical codes, carefully balancing their duties to ‘seek truth and report it’ with the need to ‘act independently'”, showing that there is a struggle with the confidence you have within your articles when you are independent. Glass took the route to quit being insecure about his mediocre articles and to shape his own career by making it up, which went against the ethical value to “seek truth and report it”. Instead, he did not seek the truth and reported what he would be interested to read if he was his audience.
Conclusion
Though this film was hard to watch, seeing how far Stephen Glass went to just get the attention he desired, it taught me a lot about the journalism industry. Stephen Glass was a hardworking man, who wanted to be respected by everyone around him, yet he did not respect himself enough or have the confidence in his own work to be honest. If I were in the shoes of Stephen Glass, I would immediately backtrack my steps the minute I finished my first article. Glass did not consider the paper or his reputation when he began to publish fabricated stories, which then resulted in the crash of both.
The most important ethical value taken from the story of Stephen Glass is respect. In the journalism field, you must gain respect by taking small milestones in order to work yourself up to get a good following. For Glass, he wanted to see that immediate fame from his “authentic” and “original” articles that no other publishing had the experience to write. Glass wanted immediate respect from the entire industry, which then ended up disrespecting both the brand of the paper, and disrespecting his name in the journalism world forever. If I was Glass, minus the guilt I would feel immediately after my first fabricated story was published, I would turn myself into my editor in order to save the reputation of something much bigger than myself; the company.
Sources
Lipschultz, J. H., & Gutsche, R. E. (2019). Book Review: Disrupting Journalism Ethics, Radical Change on the Frontier of Digital Media , by Stephen J. A. Ward. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 74(2), 256–258. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1177/1077695819829613
Mills, A., Sanders, A. K., & Hussain, S. S. (2019). Fitting It All In? A Census of Undergraduate Ethics and Leadership Courses in Accredited U.S. Journalism and Mass Communication Programs. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 74(3), 265–275. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1177/1077695818777588