Situation Definition
Shattered Glass tells the story of Stephen Glass, a journalist at the news magazine The New Republic. To an untrained eye, Glass appeared to be a talented journalist with a gift of finding the most interesting news stories in any situation. Glass was consistently praised by writers, editors, and coworkers for his excellent work in The New Republic. What was uncovered was, Glass had been fabricating a majority of his stories.
Glass started by adding small un-noticeable twists to his stories in order to catch the attention of more readers but still go undetected by editors. As Glass did this more and more and still remained unseen, he was able to figure out how to get around fact-checkers and create entirely fake stories. Creating fake stories, even just manipulation small details in factual stories is an ethical issue because it is knowledgeably lying to consumers for gain. Another ethical issued shown in the movie is the persistence in lying to cover other lies even after being discovered.
Analysis
The young reporter Stephen Glass was desperate to be liked by coworkers, other writers, and magazines across the industry. The pressure from wanting to be a great journalist got to Glass, as he felt the need to release the most interesting stories to the public. Once Glass altered the first story with unfactual detail, he violated an ethical code that should be followed by every journalist.
One of Stephen Glass’s main downfalls was his self-image to others. In Jeffrey Spurlock’s article “Why journalists lie: The Troublesome times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams” he said, “Self-esteem and social acceptance are two factors.” Why journalists will deceive. Mentioned previously is Glass’s want to be accepted as a successful writer in his industry, which lead to him lying for personal gain.
After Glass had been discovered to be altering facts and fabricating stories, he continued to lie about what had happened he continued to lie in order to get out of the mess he created. Glass learned to trick editors and fact-checkers by creating stories that lead to fake numbers, people, even websites that he had created to back up his fake publishings. This is an ethical issue also because as Gail Saltz said in her article, “Why People Lie and How to Tell if They Are,” “Lying often gets worse with the passage of time. When you get away with a lie it often impels you to continue your deceptions.” As Glass found himself getting deeper and deeper in his web of lies, it quickly became more difficult to get out of what he had created. This only caused Glass to lie to editors and the magazine more to cover what he had done, putting him in a worse place than he would have been if he just told the truth to begin with.
In the end, Glass was fired from his job at the magazine The New Republic for lying to editors and fabricating stories. All of this could have been avoided if Glass were to have practiced proper ethics while reporting. The main reason for the lying and fabricating was the desire to be accepted by colleagues and other journalists alike. Once Glass started lying, it was impossible for him to stop until he was confronted with facts multiple times by editors. Being stuck in an ethical dilemma is not a place any journalist would want to be and avoiding it can be as simple as telling the truth.
Conclusion
In a situation like Stephen Glass’s, the only ethical solution is for him to come out with the truth. Even if it means losing a job because, by lying, he has lost his credibility as a journalist. If Glass were to have come out with the truth earlier on, it could have potentially been a different story for him.
It is important for ethics to be taught in the media industry because without it something like this could happen again. Editors, reporters, and even readers should be trained to question the facts on stories and look more into what they’re reading and who is writing what they’re reading or reporting.
After watching Shattered Glass the importance of ethics in media became more apparent to me. Lying to make gains in an industry so reliant on trust is a big issue and should not be taken lightly. After Glass made his first mistake by making small fact changes, he should have came clean instead of further worsening his position creating more lies.
Citation
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://search.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=125698524&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Saltz, G. (2004) “Why People Lie and How to Tell if They Are,”http:// www.today.com/health/why-people-lie-how-tell-if-they-are-2D80554952.