Blog 2 – “Shattered Glass”… By Sophie Slattery

Situation Definition

The movie “Shattered Glass” tells a cautionary tale of the consequences of unethical journalism. In the troubling true story, Stephen Glass, a promising young journalist, is discovered to have been deceitful in his work for The New Republic.

An investigation by Forbes Magazine found many of the articles Glass wrote to be partially or entirely fabricated. Glass initially passed rounds of fact-checking by providing made up notes, phone numbers, emails, and even websites in an effort to corroborate his eccentric stories. His major deceit, along with the degree to which he got away with things makes his story one of the most well-known examples of unethical journalism.

Analysis

Two major offenses Glass conducted were fabrication and the deceit of the public and his co-workers through his stories. These actions seemed to be driven by Glass’ ego more than anything. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Glass recalled that, “I loved the electricity of people liking my stories. I loved going to story conference meetings and telling people what my story was going to be, and seeing the room excited. I wanted every story to be a home run.” Glass received a reputation for his stories. His coworkers and readers were entertained by what he wrote, which motivated him to continue to do so. The fabrication of his stories was what gained him the recognition that he didn’t want to lose.

Journalists like Glass lying and using deceit for their ego is recognized to be a common motivation. In an article by Spurlock and Jefferson examining why journalists lie, they found that “Self-esteem and social acceptance are two factors.” For Glass, these were both driving influences behind his fabrication and deceit. Writing stories that garnered so much attention was a clear boost to his self-esteem. With that, having the recognition and appreciation of his stories gained him acceptance with his peers and the public.

Another reason Glass continued his deceit to the degree he did was that once he began, he felt like he had to continue it. In his interview with 60 Minutes, Glass said, “My life was one very long process of lying and lying again, to figure out how to cover those other lies.” Glass debated the ethics of fabricating the perfect quote at first; from there, in a snowball effect, he felt obligated to continue to lie and fabricate in an effort to not be caught in his initial lies.

Conclusion

 In class, we learned that fabrication is unethical, and above all, your coworkers and the public should never be deceived. Steven Glass did both of these things through his journalism. Whether his motivations were ego, self-esteem, or acceptance driven, he crossed ethical journalism lines that should never be crossed.  The result was the crumbling of his journalism career and credibility, along with the credibility of magazines he wrote for. From Glass’ mistakes, we can learn that fabrication and deceit are never the right choice, and take caution through seeing the consequences he faced.

References

Kroft, S. (2003, May 7). Stephen Glass: I Lied For Esteem. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-glass-i-lied-for-esteem-07-05-2003/

Spurlock, Jefferson. (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.

 

 

 

 

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