Lies, cheating, and deception; these are the characters that define who Stephen Glass was and potentially still is long after his firing and removal of being a journalist for the The New Republic. The film Shattered Glass chronicles Stephen Glass’ rise in the journalistic world and his own definition of ethical decision making and right and wrong that ultimately led to his downfall.
After first being exposed as a liar due to the discovery of his piece “Hack Heaven ” being a complete fabrication with sources and names completely made up; other stories by Glass began to be questioned. In total 27 out of 41 articles published by Glass throughout several publications were found to be either partially or entirely falsified.
The editor of The New Republic magazine at the time Charles Lane had said Glass “deliberately deceived the magazines with forged notes, documents, fake press releases, and fake sites” (CBS News, 1998). Glass had told fact-checkers that he had sources who were so deep and dark they had been asked not to be called back.
The two ethical issues displayed by Glass throughout the film were first his fabrication of major news stories including making up sources and quotes; the second ethical issue was his refusal to be honest and transparent about his work to his co-workers and his audience.
The journalistic code of ethics are defined as to seek the truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and to be accountable and transparent. These codes of ethics were clearly not followed by Glass throughout his journalist career as he refused to be honest. Glass ultimately did not come clean about his actions and deception until after he had been caught.
The Society Of Professional Journalists (or the SPJ) Code of Ethics preamble states “Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity. The Society declares these four principles as the foundation of ethical journalism and encourages their use in its practice by all people in all media” (SPJ, 2014).
This preamble was not followed by Glass during his time as a journalist as he continued to manipulate and cheat his way to publish news stories. The SPJ also has set guidelines under each of their Code of Ethics, one in particular stood out time to under the Be Accountable and Transparent section that stated “Abide by the same high standards they expect of others” (SPJ, 2014). This immediately made me think of Glass as he would demand and expect of others to work correctly and honestly as he fabricated stories his stories for his own selfish gain.
The textbook The Ethical Journalist: Making responsible decisions in the pursuit of news defines fabrication as “making things up and passing them off as genuine”, this definition clearly fits into the mold of that of Stephen Glass (Foreman, 2016). With more than half of his stories fabricated Glass clearly demonstrates his unethical behavior of both lying and misleading both his readers and his journalist co-workers as well. Stephen Glass had stepped over the line and paid the ultimate price for his unethical behavior in the world of journalism.
Ultimately, throughout the film and reading more in depth about the life of Stephen Glass it has certainly demonstrated to me that it is always better to tell the truth than to lie and cheat your way to the top. Glass fell from grace hard after being exposed as a liar and it is almost impossible to ever make your way back to the top after a fall like that. I have never had any desire to cheat and lie to get to the top and this film further demonstrates to me why that should never be done.
Stephen Glass deserved to be fired and received the correct punishment for his lies and manipulation. Glass serves as a great reminder to others (whether their journalists or not) to never cheat and lie to benefit yourself. In the end, the truth will always emerge and there is no room for cheating. The truth will always set you free.
References:
CBS News. (1998, June 12). Writer Fabricated 27 of 41 Stories. Retrieved February 10, 2020, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/writer-fabricated-27-of-41-stories/.
Foreman, G. (2016). The ethical journalist: Making responsible decisions in the pursuit of news. John Wiley & Sons.
Society of Professional Journalists. (2014, September 6). SPJ Code of Ethics – Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved February 10, 2020, from https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
By: Kyle Cugini