Part 1: Situation Definition
A journalism is “the independent act of gathering and disseminating information, in which the practitioner, is dedicated to seeking the truth, and owes first loyalty to the consumers of the information” according to the textbook, “The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Digital Age” (2016, Gene Foreman). There are two main issues that bring intense ethical messages through a movie and lecture; false ethical dilemma and Kovach and Rosentiel’s first principle. In the movie, “Shattered glass,” glass made of a fake report and lied to his co-workers and editors.
Firstly, the false ethical dilemma briefly means to choose between ethical value and non-ethical value. This refers a conflict between “what a journalist should do” and “what a journalist would like to do” (2016, Foreman). Also, another main issue about truth is that “journalism’s first obligation is to the truth” which is one of elements of journalism by Kovach and Rosenstiel (pp. 24-25). As it is written, the journalist is distinguishing the fact and providing the truth to the audience as a required value as a journalist.
Part 2: Analysis
Journalists consistently face the conflict between choosing ethical value and non-ethical value when they publish their writings. As Foreman represented False Ethical Dilemma in the textbook: “…expressed as a clash between what you should do and what you would like to do” (2016). Honest and good journalists signify the person who follows the ethical value in general. In the movie, The Shattered Glass, conflicts with the ethical value as the journalist is well portrayed through the figure, Stephan Glass. Glass fabricated 27 articles out of 41 articles written by him while working at The New Republic. He was described as a smart person because he wrote articles in a witty and catchy way; however, he failed to be an honest and good journalist since he fabricated almost half of articles he wrote as the journalist for success and reputation and failed to keep a career as the journalist by being defeated in the false ethical dilemma in a negative way.
As Jefferson Spurlock referred to in an article, Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams, some reporters voluntarily choose to publish the fabricated information to the public without informing (p.71). These journalists are later considered as untrustworthy one in the public. Howard Kurtz who is a former Washington Post media writer and current Fox Channel host claimed that “lying, deceiving, and fabricating are hardly legitimate journalistic methods…No matter how good the story, lying to get it raises as many questions about journalists as their subjects” (p.71). This indicates that the person should choose to do what they need to do; otherwise, they will ultimately become a representation of unethical and non-trustworthy journalist in the public.
In my perspective, Glass fabricated half of his stories since he had high-quality of writing skills and of stories for the news articles to attract or gather readers’ attention. Inevitably, Glass violated the ethical value as the journalist by thinking that the desire could be bigger than his journalistic ethical value, which refers that Glass decided to do what he wants – by showing a negative “False ethical dilemma.”
Another common and mandatory role as a journalist is delivering a truth to the audience. Letting people know the truth is the very first obligation of the journalists according to Kovach and Rosenstiel (pp.24-25). Stephen Glass fabricated his stories in the news articles, and he was not truthful to his colleagues and the audience. In the movie, The Shattered Glass, the figure, Stephan Glass, is portrayed as keeping untruthful position towards his colleagues and the audience of The New Republic. Conley Dianna stated an argument of by Klaidman and Beauchamp that “…for the journalistic principle of truth-telling, avoiding harm and bias, establishing trust, serving the public, resisting outside manipulation, and welcoming criticism to be held accountable to the public” (p.8). For building up a trust between the audience and journalist, the journalists focus on delivering fact-checked truth to the public.
Sometimes, the journalists fail to provide only the facts because of gaining popularity from the public and wanting to be successful writer. One of similar cases with Stephan Glass is Jayson Blair who was a New York Times journalist; Blair stole other person’s stories, manipulated quotes he need, and fabricated detailed information in his news stories according to an article, Media Law and Ethics: Intersection of The New York Times Code of Ethics and Cases (p. 3).
Stephan Glass chose not to be an honest journalist by seeking his fame. Also, Conley Dianna stated that “ethical issues are inherently intertwined with libel and defamation as publishing information that could be harmful to reputation should always be an ethical decision (p.10). By fabricating a story, those behavior could harm the image of the news journal company itself and the reputation of journalist as well. In addition, if I face similar challenges with Stephan Glass, I will collect several and concrete evidences by checking the fact that whether a person fabricated the stories and reporting officially to the editors or senior journalists before announcing to the public.
Part 3: Conclusion
In short, after watching the movie, The Shattered Glass, I found two main issues: False Ethical Dilemma and Elements of Journalism by Kovach and Rosenstiel – to be truth through a real case story of Stephan Glass. Glass decided to write his stories by fabricating them and it does not seem that he fights with conflicts with his ethical value as a journalist. This shows that Glass used the ethical dilemma in a wrong way. Furthermore, Glass failed to deliver the truth and genuine facts to the public and it violates an ethical value and principle of the journalist.
Through the story of Stephan Glass and the movie – The Shattered Glass, I realized a significance of maintaining journalist’s original intention and of being truthful and honest to both others and oneself. There will be some possible solutions if a person fabricated or writes untrustworthy articles. As a journalist, if he or she gets an opinion and evaluation from his or her co-workers before publishing, the journalist tries to write honest and genuine articles. Also, if editor found that journalists does not follow the principles of writing, he or she has to pause the journalist’s career by not giving an opportunity of looking oneself back and evaluating oneself. Furthermore, if I face with some struggles with ethical dilemma, I will have moments to think of my behaviors and writings, and also try to get some help from my fellow workers by checking my writings.
References
Conley, D. (2009). Media Law and Ethics: Intersection of The New York Times Code of Ethics and Cases. Conference Papers—National Communication Association, 1.
Foreman, G. (2016). The Ethical journalist: making responsible decisions in the digital age. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.
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.